Just a Drummer
by Secret Girlfriend
Summary: One day I thought, what about the band memebers? they see almost everything and they know these people better than anyone! rachel gets a new a lover and a few new friens! begins during valentine's day episode.I DONT OWN GLEE! warning: character death
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Well this is my first one! finally! been meaning to do this forever! I'll post a second once I start getting positive feedback so if you want more tell me! I should have time now that it's my off season to do this stuff! So yeah! enjoy! the songs i use are You don't know me by allison iraheta and you can be david archuleta!**

* * *

Everyone left after Rachel's Firework number. Rachel was rather surprised at how much her life had turned around since things ended with Finn. She just needed a swift kick to realize how much better of she was without him. But her, Mercedes and Kurt were finally getting along as well as Tina and Mike. Her mind was also back on track towards her real love, Broadway. The gold star around her neck showed that.

Rachel stayed back for a little and sat down at the piano. She felt overjoyed at her new found independence. In just a few hours she had completely turned her life around. Finn was completely gone this time and she knew exactly how she felt about it.

_I'm a ghost of a girl that you looked right past  
I'm a voice you didn't wanna hear  
I'm a page in a book that you read too fast  
But I'm still here_

You never cared, never tried, never even asked  
Maybe I didn't wanna stay  
You shut your eyes, told your lies then you had your laugh  
And that's okay

Cause you don't know me  
You don't wanna know it's real  
And I'm not sorry  
For who I am, for what I feel  
Cause you don't know me

_I got more on my mind than I ever told  
I got pain that you never felt  
I got the scars  
I can deal with it on my own  
I've got stories that I'll never tell  
But maybe its just as well_

_Cause you don't know me  
You don't wanna know it's real  
And I'm not sorry  
For who I am, for what I feel  
Cause you don't know me_

As she got up from the piano and turned towards the door, she jumped back in surprise. It was it James, the drummer from the band that backed up New Directions. "Hey James! I didn't know anyone was still here. I thought everyone has left."

"It's fine. I was just passing by and heard you." He walked in, hesitating at first. It was all odd to Rachel. James never really spoke. In fact, no one from the band ever spoke much. They just went along with all the crazy glee drama.

"So what's up?"

James shifted uncomfortably. "I just wanted to tell you that you did amazing on Fireworks. Probably one of your best numbers yet. "

Rachel was taken aback for a moment but quickly composed herself. "Um… Thank you."

"Yeah, I especially like the message behind this one." With that he looked up and gave Rachel a small smile and walked out.

Rachel might've been standing there for ten seconds or five minutes before she heard Puck come in. "Rach, you coming?"

Her eyes snapped up to Noah and she came right back. "Oh, hi Noah. Yeah, I'm coming. Just let me grab my bag." They walked out to the parking lot together towards Puck's car, Puck allowing her to sift through her thoughts. It wasn't until two miles that she finally said, "So how's it going with Lauren?"

* * *

Later that night Rachel walked into Breadsticks, looking discretely for someone to sit with everyone was already with someone though… except Santana. She decided to sit on the opposite side of her. Well the opposite side of the wall anyway. Santana looked over though and in that one moment they understood each other. They were both alone on Valentine's Day and didn't really know what to do with themselves. They knew each other's pain.

Santana smiled over at her and Rachel smiled back. She thought that maybe they could be friends from that day forward. Or at least be able to look at each other without wanting to physically harm the other.

Rachel was about to speak when Mercedes showed up and made her way into the inside of the booth. Tina and Mike were close behind. But when Kurt was up introducing the Warblers, someone else crept in and pulled a chair up next to their table.

"James?" Rachel looked at him in shock but he just smiled at her and looked back up at Blaine who had started singing. Mercedes nudged her and gave her a plain 'WTF' look to which Rachel responded with an 'I have no freaking clue!' look. Even when Kurt came by to sing 'I love you' to them he had confused look on his face.

As the guys finished up with You Can by David Archuleta and Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, Rachel kept stealing glances at James, quickly looking away when she caught him looking back. He was still wearing that same little smirk. This was all kind of freaking her out.

Every once in a while Rachel could see Puck or Santana also looking over at her as well. They looked just as confused as she was.

After the last round of the applause for the Warblers, the boys split into different groups around the restaurant. Before Rachel could turn to question James though, Santana and Puck were at her side along with Kurt, Mercedes and Blaine. "So James, what's up?" Puck said with a crack of knuckles.

"Noah!"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"Santana!"

"Easy guys," James said, taking a small step back. "I just need to talk to Rachel."

"Well, you're going to have to wait me first." Santana grabbed Rachel's arm and pulled her outside of Breadsticks. "Okay, we'll get to what's going on in their in a minute. First I want to get all of this emotional crap out of the way." She pulled a somewhat pained expression on her face but went on. "I'm… sorry for the things that I've said to you in the past. They were mean and I shouldn't have said them and-"

"You can stop Santana. I know how much this is killing you on the inside."

"Oh thank you. I don't think I could've done much more. So, now that we're best friends I can ask, why was James staring at you all night?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, but smiled. "I have no idea. He spoke to me in the choir room after glee earlier and then he shows up. That's as much as I know."

"Ooh, wanky."

"Shut up. Oh, and I'm sorry I said that you would only have a job on a pole." They laughed and walked back in together, arms linked, only to be confronted by the five other people waiting for them in there.

"Okay, my turn." James smiled kindly at Rachel and reached for her hand to gently pull her back outside. Rachel looked back at the others who showed no signs that knew what was going on.

Outside James just stared at Rachel for a moment and then took a deep breath. "So how's it going?"

Rachel laughed. "I'm fine, just a little confused." He laughed at that. "What's going on? We haven't spoken more than ten words to each other before today and all of a sudden you show up in the same exact place as I am twice on one day. Please explain."

James laughed again at the exasperation in her voice. "Listen, I don't want to say what I need to say here. One, it would be a major cliché to do this on Valentine's Day. Two, there are too many people. Well, more like stalkers."

Rachel turned to see her friends staring at them out the window. While, the others looked away guiltily, Puck actually stepped up right next to the glass, glaring at James. "Yeah, I'm sorry about them."

He chuckled. "It's fine. Just promise me that'll you'll be in the auditorium Monday morning at 6:30."

Rachel's eyes widened as she heard this, but she composed her face quickly. Seriously, this was so out of the blue! She wasn't complaining about the attention, but what about her solemn diva vow to herself to focus in the music for a while. But, James wasn't Finn. He didn't seem like the type to push or pull Rachel in a different direction. Nor the type to just abandon her with out a real reason.

All of this flashing through her mind in about two seconds, she nodded. "I'll be there."

Relief seeped through the smile that James seemed to be constantly wearing. "Good." He hesitated for a second but leaned in to kiss Rachel on the cheek. A quick smile and then he was walking away towards his car.

Rachel walked back in with a small smile on her face, but was almost immediately dragged back outside by Puck. "You know I'm kind of cold and would prefer the inside!"

She looked up at Puck laughing a little, but stopped the glare on his face. "Noah, breathe and relax your face muscles before it gets stuck.

Puck's look softened but he didn't really relax. "What's going on with you and James?"

"So just because a boy asked me to meet him in the auditorium on Monday and kissed me on the cheek there's automatically something going on?" Rachel laughed at Puck's sudden anger and muscle tension. "Relax. Does James seem like the type to lure me into a trap and try to stab me?"

"That was a bad choice of words Rach. I'm not standing by to let another guy hurt you. Not again. Not after what happened with your dads. Not after Jesse. Not after what Finn has done to you, twice."

"Look, I know that you and your mom and your sister seem to think that I'm actually blood related to you, but I just live with you. True, we act like siblings almost all the time but you don't always have to be the big brother. Sometimes it's useful, but I think I'm safe in this situation."

"You don't seem to get how mad I am at myself for not sticking up for you. I know you agreed to let me protect my rep but I hate watching everyone push my little sis around. That's not happening again."

"Fine, you can start calling out the hockey players or Finn, but please, be nice to James. He's not doing anything wrong."

"Fine, let's get home then. Don't want you out here getting a cold."

Rachel shoved him playfully but went back inside to grab her jacket and purse from Mercedes. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow," Rachel said to her confused gaze.

"At the mall, right?" Santana cut in.

"Of course Santana." Rachel smiled at her new friend. "Brittany can come to. Kurt, stop pretending to feel uninvited. You're coming to."

"Yay!" Kurt jumped up and down excitedly. "Can we please vamp up your dresses please? You look much better this year but I really want to see some different colors on you."

"Fine. See you guys at eleven tomorrow." Rachel waved goodbye to her friends and walked to the car with Puck.

Once in the car Puck looked at her. "How are you going to hide the fact that you live with me once you start hanging out more with them?"

"Everyone needs to find out eventually anyway. But I'm going to let it happen naturally. I won't force it onto them."

"Okay." Puck still looked worried but pulled out of the parking lot.

"What happened to Lauren?" Rachel was still confused on how her brother had some how managed to fall for Lauren. She was a great girl, but just wasn't Puck's usual type.

"She went home when I told her I had to check on you. I think she understood that I really needed to talk to you. She wants to take this all slow. She's going to kill me."

Rachel laughed. "I think you'll manage. If you really want her, you can hold out."

Puck just rolled his eyes and turned on the radio for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

Monday morning Rachel took her own car to school. It was too much to ask for Puck to wake up at 5:30 to bring her in early. On the way, Rachel looked back over Saturday.

Once she had gotten to the mall Brittany had nearly jumped her in her eagerness to give Rachel a hug. The excited blonde was so happy to have a new friend. Mercedes, Kurt and Santana had quickly moved onto the subject of James. After explaining the two occurrences on Friday, Kurt and Mercedes went strait into dissecting everything. Their main conclusion was a lot of jumping around in joy for Rachel.

Rachel had asked though, "What happened to 'I need to be a diva' again? How men were only going to ruin that?"

"Oh please, like you could ever stop being a diva." Kurt said with and eye roll.

"And that was just to make you and Kurt feel better about riding solo on V-Day. But now we don't have to worry about it!"

Santana's main input was, "Auditorium? Wanky," while Brittany just kept on smiling for her new friend.

"But why did you go home with Puck afterwards?" was the question Santana cared most about.

"Noah was just giving me a ride home," Rachel answered honestly. After that they moved onto shopping. Kurt had gone crazy with the dresses and having Rachel model them for them all. She forced him to narrow it down to his top five favorite though. In the end she had gotten four dresses and a new a pair of jeans Santana had forced her into. She was currently her new red dress.

Pulling into the lot, Rachel entered the school. The halls unsurprisingly deserted and there was an eerie quiet. Once outside the slightly open auditorium doors, Rachel heard the soft sound of a piano. Peeking in before entering, she saw James at the piano on stage. Recognizing the melody, she fully entered and shut the door behind her. At the shutting sound James looked up and smiled, but he didn't stop playing. Rachel took this as she was allowed to come up on stage next to him.

Once she was sat down next to him on the piano bench. He looked over at her with a little smirk. "You ready for this?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows, but replied, "Bring it."

And suddenly she was rendered speechless.

_Take me where I've never been  
Help me on my feet again  
Show me that good things come  
To those who wait_

Tell me I'm not on my own  
Tell me I won't be alone  
Tell me what I'm feeling isn't some mistake  
'Cause if anyone can make me fall in love, you can

Save me from myself, you can  
And it's you and no one else  
If I could wish upon tomorrow  
Tonight would never end

If you asked me, I would follow  
But for now I'll just pretend  
'Cause if anyone can make me fall in love, you can

Baby, when you look at me  
Tell me what do you see?  
Are these the eyes of someone  
You could love?

_'Cause everything that brought me here  
Well, not it all seems so clear  
Baby, you're the one that I've been dreaming of  
If anyone can make me fall in love, you can_

Save me from myself, you can  
And it's you and no one else  
If I could wish upon tomorrow  
Tonight would never end

If you asked me I would follow  
But for now I'll just pretend  
'Cause if anyone can make me fall in love

Only you can take me sailing in your deepest eyes  
Bring me to my knees and make me cry  
And no one's ever done this  
Everything was just a lie and I know, yes, I know

This is where it all begins  
So tell me it will never end  
I can't fool myself  
It's you and no one else

If I could wish upon tomorrow  
Tonight would never end  
If you asked me I would follow  
But for now I'll just pretend  
If anyone can make me fall in love, you can

Show me that good things come  
To those who wait

All the while Rachel just stared at the suddenly beyond amazing boy in front of her. The way his voice flowed and annunciated and made her melt! Only one person had done that to her and that affect on her was long gone. The picture of perfection in front of her was likely to hold her forever.

When he played the last chord he looked up and smiled his usual smile that Rachel was growing to love more every time she saw it. His eyes were this unique color of brown, hazel and grey. Yeah, she could definitely fall in love with those eyes.

"Do you get why I asked you hear this morning."

Rachel snapped out of her moment of analyzing James. "Yeah, I think I picked it up."

"I know it's kind of sudden and unexpected and, I won't lie random, but I had a take shot. I knew that it wouldn't be long until another guy tried to make you theirs. I couldn't let that happen. I've watched you get hurt by too many jerks. You deserve someone better than them. You deserve someone who cares about music as much as you do and cares about you as a person. Not just the lead in glee club or the person walking down the halls in very short skirts. But someone who's smart, funny, beautiful, a leader, and has one of the best voices around."

Rachel blushed as James listed off why he liked her. "Wow. Did you rehearse that or just some up with all that on the spot?"

James laughed and nodded. "I've thought this over a thousand times. I've imagined finally telling you this in a million different ways. But I decided the best way to ask you out was through music. So what do you say? I know I'm just a drummer in the back ground, but do you want to go out with me?"

Rachel smiled. "I say that you have proved yourself to be more than just a drummer and you did everything just right. Yes, I will most definitely go out with you." She leaned in to press her lips to his. It was simple kiss, but deep down she felt something. A little flutter in her stomach telling her that this was right.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Woah! totally did not expect as many alerts and favorites as i got. so yea im gonna try to upload every other day on this. if i fail ill try to at least write a quick one shot. but you can spread this to get reads and more reviews if you want. totally go for it! enjoy this chapter! songs used are come back to me by david cook and picture to burn by taylor swift.**When the bell rang for class at eight, word was already going around the school. Rachel had been seen walking down the halls hand in hand with James. Sure, a lot of people didn't even know James was, but Rachel was normally the center of gossip these days. Mercedes reaction had been expected with a happy little squeal and giving a Rachel a crushing hug. Puck's was also no surprise. He gave James a quick glare and then tugged him away.

* * *

"Listen up drummer boy, I know I don't stick up Rachel a lot in school, but that's over. If you ever, even slightly hurt her in any way, I will enlist the entire football team to hunt you down and destroy you."

"Noah!"

"It's cool Rachel. I was ready for this after that death glare he was giving us Friday night. Listen dude, I have no intention of hurting Rachel. Why would I want to?" James gave Puck his usual smile and he seemed to believe him.

"Fine, but just know I will be watching you. Every move you make will be under my eye."

"Noah!"

By then Santana had joined them along with Brittany and Artie. They all laughed at the indignant look Rachel was giving Puck but quickly moved on. "So this all went down in the auditorium this morning?" Santana asked curiously, directing it James.

"Uh, yeah." James looked a little nervous with Santana talking to him. As if she might punch if he said the wrong thing.

"Wanky," was all Santana said back.

"Santana!" Rachel yelled at her friend as James blushed slightly, but he seemed to relax at Santana's joking tone as he slipped his arm around Rachel's waist and pulled her closer.

"Relax midget. You'll turn into something like me eventually with how much you're going to be stuck with me."

"Oh God save me," Rachel said as the final bell rang and James pulled her away towards her class.

"I'm never going to get a minute alone with here am I?" James whispered in her ear. Rachel shuddered at the slight shiver it gave her.

"Knowing those people, probably not. But, we are alone now." She gave him a playful smirk.

"Hmm, this is true." They had reached Rachel's first hour. James quickly, but gently, shoved her up against the wall and gave her a deep, slow kiss that made Rachel weak at knees. She would've completely fallen over but James kept a strong grip on her waist to keep her up. When he pulled away, he gave her another small kiss and said, "I'll see you in glee."

Rachel watched him walk away. He looked back once and gave her his little smirk. She entered her class room only to remember who she sat next to. And she found him staring right at her as she sat down.

"What the hell?" Finn said, with a look in his face like he was a puppy who had just gotten kicked. "Why are you making out with some random guy in the middle of the hall?"

"Excuse me?" Rachel had to restrain herself from slapping Finn. Hadn't he made it very clear in the nurse's room that he was over her? "Why is it any of your business? I thought that you had decided to force Quinn into cheating on Sam. Or did you both get mono from making out with Santana?"

Finn just stared at Rachel as if he was expecting more of an explanation. Rachel was thankful that the teacher had walked in about three seconds later, sparing her from trying to make it clear to Finn that her life was now her own.

Unfortunately Finn caught up with Rachel right after class. "Just because I'm over doesn't mean you can be moving onto other random guys in the hallway now. You're supposed to keep wanting me!"

"Okay Finn, just stop talking before I slap you and I'll tell you why you need to shut up. What you are telling me is that I need to keep giving you attention with out expecting anything in return. Now does sound accurate?"

"Yeah. That and you're not supposed to kiss random guys in the hallway!"

"Again, just stop talking! You don't seem to realize that everything that comes out of your mouth is either insulting or just stupid! That guy I was kissing before class is my boyfriend! I think I deserve a real relationship with someone who doesn't feel like hooking up with Cheerios every time I turn my back!" With that Rachel did her classic storm off.

"You do know what this means right?"

"What exactly does it mean?" Rachel said without looking back.

"I'm going to fight for you again."

Rachel halted in her tracks and turned on Finn. She hopes he could see the anger and impatience in her glare. "Fine. But don't expect me to stop Puck when he comes to beat you up." And finally Rachel walked off to her class.

* * *

Later in glee Rachel walked in with James laughing, having completely forgotten about the confrontation with Finn earlier. They separated as James went to sit down behind the drums and Rachel sat in between Santana and Mercedes with Puck right behind them.

"Okay guys," Mr. Shuester said walking in with Finn right behind him. "We're going to start today with something Finn has put together. Take it away."

Finn gave Rachel one long, wanting look before turning to give James a death glare. Rachel saw James look of confusion before the guitarist, Aiden started with a simple riff.

_You say you gotta go and find yourself  
You say that you're becoming someone else  
Don't recognize the face in the mirror looking back at you_

You say you're leaving as you look away  
I know there's really nothing left to say  
Just know I'm here whenever you need me I'll wait for you

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free  
And when you've seen what you need to see  
When you find you, come back to me

Take your time, I won't go anywhere  
Picture you with the wind in your hair  
I'll keep your things right where you left them  
I'll be here for you

Oh and I'll let you go, I'll set your free  
And when you've seen what you need to see  
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need  
I'll be right here waiting to see  
You find you, come back to me

I can't get close if you're not there  
I can't get inside if there's no soul there  
I can't face you, I can't save you  
It's something you'll have to do

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free  
And when you've seen what you need to see  
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need  
I'll be right here waiting to see  
You find you, come back to me

The entire time Rachel kept glancing back and forth between Finn and James. The drum part was very heavy in this song and James was nearly beating the drums with his sticks, just glaring at Finn. Finn on the other hand never looked away from Rachel. Behind her she was sure it was taking both Mike and Sam to hold back Puck. What she never saw though was the looks she was getting from Quinn. Looks that, if Rachel had seen them, would've made her run for her life.

When Finn had finished, the only one who clapped was Mr. Schuester, while everyone else was either glaring or holding down Puck. Aiden was also making sure that James stayed seated behind the drums.

Mr. Schuester finally realized that no one else seemed to have enjoyed the song and quickly stopped. "Well, okay. Does anyone else have anything before we move on?"

Rachel stood up, which made Finn look a little excited. Had this actually worked?

Rachel whispered something to Mercedes and Santana who smiled and gave her quick nods of approval. She then went over the whisper to Aiden and James. James smirked at Rachel then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"All right Rachel. Take it away."

_State the obvious  
I didn't get my perfect fantasy  
I realized you love yourself  
More that you could ever love me_

So go and tell your friends  
That I'm obsessive and crazy  
That's fine, I'll tell mine  
You're gay and by the way

I hate that stupid old pickup truck  
You never let me drive  
You're a redneck, heartbreak  
Who's really bad at lying

So watch me strike a match  
On all my wasted time  
As far as I'm concerned  
You're just another picture to burn

There's no time for tears  
I'm just sitting here planning my revenge  
There's nothing stopping me  
From going out with all of your best friends

And if you come around  
Saying sorry to me  
Puck is going to show you  
How sorry you'll be

'Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck  
You never let me drive  
You're a redneck, heartbreak  
Who's really bad at lying

And so watch me strike a match  
On all my wasted time  
As far as I'm concerned  
You're just another picture to burn

And if you're missing me  
You better keep it to yourself  
'Cause coming back around here  
Would be bad for your health

'Cause I hate that stupid old pickup truck  
You never let me drive  
You're a redneck, heartbreak  
Who's really bad at lying

_So watch me strike a match  
On all my wasted time  
As far as I'm concerned  
You're just another picture to burn_

_Burn burn burn burn baby burn_

_Baby burn_

A loud applause ripped through the choir room after the last note. The only ones who didn't make any noise were Finn and Quinn. Within a second James had caught her up in giant hug. He spun her around once before setting her down and kissing her in front of everyone. An 'Awwww' went through the room, but it was interrupted by a huge crash of a chair hitting the wall. The next second Finn was storming out of the room. Quinn was close behind him.

"I think we can call this rehearsal over," Mr. Shuester said awkwardly.

Everyone started moving around and gathering their things. James was almost immediately at Rachel's side. He couldn't stop smirking at what had just happened. "Who would've guessed that the drummer boy would beat out the quarter back?"

"I would've guessed it any day."

He smirked at that. "You want to go out somewhere? Just go to the park or something?"

"That would be great." They were almost out the door when Mr. Shuester called Rachel back. "Rachel, I need to talk to you."

"I'll meet you in the parking lot?" James nodded and left. He wasn't wearing his usual smile though.

"What do you need Mr. Shue?"

"Rachel, are you sure it's smart to do this?"

"What exactly am I doing wrong?"

"You basically forced Finn into making a chair shaped dent in the wall. Don't you think you went a little too far?"

"And how do you want me to fix it?"

"Just take Finn back!"

"Ha! You're funny! Finn just acted like a child and you expect me to fix by ruining something that's finally making me happy?"

"I think it would be best for the team."

"But not for me Mr. Shue. Stick to teaching Spanish and giving us music. Don't try giving life lessons." Rachel stormed out and tried to control her anger. This was so stupid! How could Mr. Schuester expect Rachel to fix everything that went on in this messed dup group?

Puck was at the doors when Rachel got out. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Mr. Schue was being ridiculous as usual. He expects me to go around fixing everyone's problems by destroying my life."

"Want me to go punch him for you?"

Rachel laughed. "No, I already told him I'm not doing it. I'm done bending over backwards for this group. I love everyone… mostly everyone, but I need to focus on my life."

"And don't forget about the love of your life," James added in jokingly. They had reached Rachel's car by now. Puck left for his own car. "So what did Schue want?"

"You ready to hear this?"

"Sure. How bad can it be?"

Rachel explained to him what Mr. Shuester had said. By the time she was done, James's face said it was pretty bad. "James, say something?"

"He wants us to break up, already?"

"Yeah. But don't worry. It's not happening."

"Maybe we should."

"Wait, what?" Rachel stared at James in shock. "I thought you had waited forever for this!"

"Of course I want this. More than anything, but look what happened in less than ten hours. This is all just going to get worse before it gets better. And let's face it. Finn is the leading man. You're the best leading lady around."

"But-" Rachel cut in, "Finn leads the glee club, not me. My leading man is standing in front of me. And of course this is going to get worse. I mean, you're with the biggest diva around. But we're going to push through it for the time when it gets better.

James thought this over for a moment. "Are you sure about this? I know this sounds flaky but I just want to make sure this is what you want. I just want to see you happy."

"And that line right there just sold me the best drummer at McKinley."

James smiled. "Ah crap. I knew I should've kept a better eye in my friend Paul."

Rachel laughed and just fell into him. Wrapping his arms around her tiny frame, James kissed the top of her head. "So, you still want to go to the park or not?"

"I better not. I'd probably end up snapping at innocent people. Can we just stay like this?"

James laughed. "I don't think so. Eventually my parents are going to wonder where I am. A rain check on the park though?"

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Same time same place?"

Rachel finally smiled. "Definitely." She stood on her tip toes to kiss as he helped to hoist her up. This moment was too perfect for her.

* * *

When Rachel got home, her little sister came running and jumped into her arms. "Why are you late? Noah got home ages ago!"

"Sorry Sara. Rachel had to talk to some people before she left."

"More like suck face with one." Puck entered the living room from the kitchen. "Come on, dinner's ready."

"Rachel, what does 'suck face' mean?"

"I thought you would know what that was sweetie. I mean, you've lived with Noah your whole life!"

"Hey! Just because it's been life doesn't mean I want Sara doing it!"

"Doing what?" Rachel and Puck laughed together at the little girl's innocence.

"Nothing, eat munchkin." Sara pouted but dug into her spaghetti.

"Speaking of 'doing' how's it going with Lauren?"

Puck sighed. "Agonizingly slow. But we'll get there. Just then Mrs. Puckermen came in.

"Hey kids. Oh good, Rachel made dinner."

"Actually it was Noah this time."

Libby looked in astonishment. "Well that's new. Whatever girl you're seeing now is doing wonders on you Noah. Keep this one."

"Noah will have to know how to cook if he wants to please this lady." Rachel smirked at Puck as he threw a roll at her.

"Hey, why can they throw food and not me?" Sara cried.

"Because you know better squirt. Now pipe down," Puck said as he dodged Rachel's return throw. Laughing, Rachel got up to clear her plate.

"So how was your day sweetie?" Libby asked as she sat down at the table.

"Definitely a good one." Rachel said smiling shyly.

"I bet. Sucking face all day tends to make people happy." Rachel stuck her tongue out at Puck as Libby pushed it further. "And who is the lucky young man?" while Sara asked again, "What's it mean to suck face?"

"His name is James."

"Is he any good?" Libby pressed on.

Rachel blushed but was saved by her cell phone ringing. Looking down she saw it was Santana's number which she had programmed into her phone earlier. "If I don't take this I might be murdered tomorrow." Libby smiled as Rachel walked to her room to talk with Santana, who had immediately started ranting on the entire Finn/Quinn/Sam drama going on and asking if Rachel had ever noticed how Sam's eyes were the perfect blue.

Rachel just sat on her bed with her homework out, ready for a very long conversation as everyone else settled into their nightly routines. About four hours later Puck came in and sat next to Rachel on her bed, waiting for Santana to finally shut up. At around 10:30 Santana finally hung up and Rachel turned to Puck. "And why have you been waiting so patiently?"

"Just coming in to check on my sis. Making sure that there aren't any problems spinning around her head."

"Well thank you for your concern, but I'm perfectly happy tonight."

"Okay, but know that what I told James earlier is for real. I'm not standing in the background anymore. If someone even comes close to you with a slushie, they're going down."

"Even if it means you're reputation?"

"Anything for my girl."

"Okay, you're choice, but I can handle myself."

"Well it's going to be easier for you now. Good night sis."

"Night bro." Puck kissed the top of Rachel's head and got up and left. Rachel was just getting ready to go to bed when she heard her phone go off.

**James: Night beautiful. See you tomorrow.**

Rachel smile and responded-** Night. Miss you.**

**Miss you more. :)**

And with that, Rachel went to bed, smiling wider than anyone could imagine.


	3. Chapter 3

**So yeah, don't expect another cahpte up to quickly cuz i got like five tests to study for but we'll see. but i will be posting a oneshot if i have time to actually type it if i cant get a chapter up. and leave some more reviews please! they really make my day! so yea enjoy!**

Rachel was almost speeding the next morning on her way to school. She couldn't wait to see James after everything that had gone down yesterday. She just wanted some time where they could just be alone without Puck or Finn breathing down their necks.

When she finally got to the auditorium doors she saw James standing outside them just peering in. "James-" Rachel said at her normal speaking voice.

"Shh. Rachel, you've got to see this." Rachel came to the door and poked her head slightly in but withdrew only a moment later. When James saw her wide open mouth ready to yell something very loud, he quickly put his hand over her mouth, but laughed. "Come on, the choir rooms open, we can go in there."

Grabbing her hand they almost ran into the empty room. Rachel didn't speak until James had shut the door. "I can't believe it! After all of yesterday! And all the crap about how badly he hurt when he was cheated on! Finn and Quinn again! Seriously! Oh my god!"

James just laughed harder at Rachel's endless flow of speech. To finally make her just stop he grabbed both sides of her face and kissed her hard on the lips. Pulling away slowly, he had to hold her up to prevent her from falling over. "Do you have that all out of your system?"

"Have what out of my system?"

James laughed again. "Yeah, you're fine. Are you hungry?"

"A little, why?" With that James produced a basket from behind the piano filled with muffins and a jug of orange juice. They sat down and leaned against the piano and ate in silence for a couple of minutes, Rachel enjoying the way she just naturally fit in James body as she snuggled up to him.

Eventually though Rachel asked, "So what I we going to do about this Finn and Quinn thing?"

"Well, I presume you are going to immediately run and tell Mercedes and Santana."

"It's crossed my mind. What about you? Do and the band members ever talk about all the crap that goes on in this room?"

"We've all just come to the conclusion that you're all at least somewhat crazy and leave it at that. We figured if we tried to figure you guys out any more than that we would turn into you guys."

"Ha! Funny! I mean come on. You can't tell me that you guys get on each others nerves every once in a while."

James thought about it for a moment. "Nah, not really. We're musicians. We tend to be pretty relaxed."

Rachel smirked at that. "Speaking of being a musician I had no idea you also played piano. How many instruments can you play?"

"Let's see. I can play drums, piano, guitar, bass and I can squeak along on a violin."

Rachel stared in shock. She thought she was multi-talents with singing, dancing and acting. "And let's not forget that amazing voice you have. I can't believe you never even auditioned for glee club."

James shrugged. "I've never been a front man type of guy. I'm the dude in the back banging on the drums louder when the lead singer is messing up."

"You only do that to Finn right?"

"Haha. Yeah mainly." He just hugged Rachel closer to his body and they just sat there for a little while in a comfortable silence. Occasionally Rachel felt him kiss the top of her head and when he did she just leaned in closer to him.

They finally got up at quarter to eight. At Rachel's locker they were bombarded by Puck, Santana and Mercedes. "Where have you guys been?"

"Choir room."

"Alone? Wanky…"

"I'm going to hit the next time you say that."

"You see, I'm already rubbing off on you midget."

Rachel just smirked. "Be nice Santana, or I might not tell you what James and I saw this morning."

Mercedes and Santana had Rachel up against the locker in an instant.

"You're going to tell us what you saw this morning, or else we're going to get angry."

"And you don't want to see us angry."

"Okay, stop threatening my girlfriend." James stepped in between the diva's two friends."

Before Rachel went onto explain what they had seen earlier, she beamed up James. _Girlfriend? Yes!_

After explaining what had gone down in the auditorium, Mercedes looked excited but Santana looked like she had when Puck sang Fat Bottom Girls to Lauren. While Mercedes telling all of this to Kurt after glee, Santana whipped out her phone and started typing furiously.

"San, who are you texting?" Rachel asked cautiously.

"Sam." She gave no further explanation.

"What are you telling Sam exactly?"

"What you just told me."

"What!" Just then the bell rang and James had to drag Rachel away from Santana before she could grab Santana and shake sense into her.

Once outside her first hour James looked strait into Rachel's eyes. "Listen, don't freak out about this now. What's done is done and I'm sure we will see the results of it in glee today. Until then just focus on what's in front of you."

Rachel took a deep breath and cleared her mind. He was right. She couldn't do anything about it. She had just been the messenger. Granted she had probably told the two worst people in the world to tell a secret to, but it was too late to regret that.

"Well, guess what's in front of me right now?"

"The luckiest guy in the world." He gave her a quick kiss. "I'll see you at glee."

And with that he was gone. So was the smile on Rachel's face though when she entered the room. She really didn't want to look at Finn right now, so she looked around for an empty seat and found in the back next to Mike. He looked up as she came back and smiled. "Sick of the man whore up front?"

"Beyond your belief."

"Well, you are welcome back here anytime."

"Thank you," Rachel said the smile back on her face. Now she just had to wait six more hours to watch everything blow up.

* * *

She didn't have to wait that long though. At lunch, which she unfortunately didn't have with James, all hell broke lose. Rachel was sitting with Mercedes, Santana, Brittany, Artie, Mike and Tina when Sam came crashing in. He headed strait for the football table where Finn was sitting.

"What the hell man? I thought we were friends!"

Finn had gotten up to try to calm Sam down. "Dude, what are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" And just like that Sam had tackled Finn to the floor and was trying to hit every part of his body. He didn't stop until Quinn came running over and pulled Sam off.

"Sam what the hell!" But she backed off the second he turned on her. His face was livid and had a little blood from the few punches Finn had been able to throw back. By now, everyone in the cafeteria had stopped to watch.

"Is this true?" He showed her his phone. Quinn started crying the second she read it.

"Who sent you that?" Quinn eventually got out between her sobs.

"Santana." Immediately Quinn rounded on their table. "You little bitch. I knew the second you brought up the mono thing in glee. You've wanted revenge on me from the moment I had Sylvester demote you to the bottom of the pyramid. Now look what you've down!"

Santana smirked. Rachel knew she feeling proud of herself. "Not everything I do is centered around you Quinn. Maybe I sent that text to Sam so he could get himself out of an unfaithful relationship before you pulled another Puck and got yourself pregnant. Maybe I genuinely like Sam and don't want to see him hurt. Maybe I just wanted to do something nice for a change. Either way, whatever my motives were, they didn't have to do with the pyramid, because for what it's worth, you're farther down than the bottom now."

Santana got up, but before she left she said, "Seeing you crumble in front of half the school though, totally made my day." And with that Santana left the cafeteria.

Sam was level with them now. "Adding to her little speech, if it isn't obvious, we're done. I don't even know how Santana found out about these little meetings you've been having with Finn, but I am damn glad she did." He then followed Santana out.

Quinn just stood there in shock as everyone started talking again. Mike leaned over to Rachel. "I now understand why you didn't want to sit next to Finn this morning."

"How do you know I knew about it?"

"You're smirking like there's no tomorrow." Quinn turned when she heard this.

"You told her about this?"

Rachel shrunk down in her chair looking guilty. "Maybe."

Quinn looked as if she was about to pounce on Rachel when Brittany stood between them. "Don't you dare touch her."

Quinn looked slightly confused. "Since when have you cared about Man-hands?"

"She's my friend. Of course I care for her. Now back off." Quinn apparently took the threat seriously.

"Finn, come on." She started walking away but quickly realized Finn wasn't following her. "Finn!"

Finn was glancing back and forth between Quinn and Rachel, obviously thinking hard, for Finn anyway. Apparently he decided Rachel was a better option at the moment because he stayed where he was.

"Oh my god. You flip-flopping little bastard!" Quinn screeched across the cafeteria. She then turned on Rachel. "You are so dead Man-hands." With that she quickly ran out of the cafeteria.

"Thank you Brittany," Rachel said graciously as she sat down in Artie's lap.

"Not a problem. Quinn's a bitch and needed to be put in her place."

"Brittany, that's the smartest thing you have ever said."

As Rachel was walking to her next class after lunch, someone caught her behind by the waist. "Heard you had a pretty exciting lunch," James whispered into her ear.

"Has that seriously already gotten around the school?"

"Yup. But I think it stopped being truth when someone told me that my girlfriend ended up bitch-slapping Quinn across the face when she said that you were as much of a waist as your boyfriend."

"Well no, that didn't happen, but if she ever does say that, Quinn will be far worse than bitch-slapped."

"So are her and Sam really done?"

"Yes, indeed they are. Sam said it in front of everyone."

"That means I won the pool for when they would be finished."

Rachel stopped in shock and looked at James, bemused. "Does the band really do that behind our backs?"

"We sure do. Obviously I lost the one for you and Finn because I was praying you guys would end sooner than you did. But that's beside the point. The point is that I have money to take you out to dinner tonight. After glee, you and me. What do you say?"

"I say yes. No backing out tonight. "

"Awesome." He gave a quick kiss and ran off to his class, probably the happiest guy in the school.

Glee was a different story. Santana and Sam came in walking hand in hand. Quinn looked as if she was about claw out Santana's eye balls and rip out Sam's throat.

When Santana sat down next to Rachel and Mercedes they just stared in astonishment. "When did that happen?"

"Right after everything that went down at lunch. He caught to me, thanked me, and the next thing I know we're making out. I guess it kind of turned into whatever just happened when we came in. I'm not sure if that's just to piss Quinn off right now though. Either way, I'm going to go with it."

Then James and Puck both had to be held back again as Finn sang Life After You by Daughtry right to Rachel.

"I swear I'll kill him if he even looks at you again," Puck said as he sat down behind Rachel after Finn sat down to his far less than happy applause.

But what Quinn did afterwards was just funny. Rachel swore if she hadn't been in front of Mr. Shuester, who would've yelled at her if she did this, she would've laughed through Quinn's entire performance.

"I have something I need to sing Mr. Schue. I hope everyone else listens very carefully."

Then James started on the drums.

_The story starts when it was hot and it was summer  
And, I had it all; I had him right there where I wanted him  
She came along, got him along, and let's hear the applause  
She took him faster than you can say sabotage  
I never saw it coming, nor did I suspected it  
I underestimated just who I was dealing with  
She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum  
She underestimated just who she was stealing from_

She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress, Whoa  
She's better known for the things that she does  
On the mattress, Whoa  
Soon she's gonna find  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground  
Won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind,  
She should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge

_She lives her life like it's a party and she's on the list  
She looks at me like I'm a trend and she's so over it  
I think her ever present frown is a little troubling  
And, she thinks I'm psycho  
Cause I like to rhyme her name with things, but  
Sophistication isn't what you wear, or who you know  
Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go  
Oh they didn't teach you that in prep school  
So it's up to me  
But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity  
_

_She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress, Whoa  
She's better known for the things that she does  
On the mattress, Whoa  
Soon she's gonna find  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground  
Won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind,  
She should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge  
_

_I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey  
You might have him, but haven't you heard  
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey  
You might have him, but I always get the last word__than revenge_

She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress, Whoa  
She's better known for the things that she does  
On the mattress, Whoa  
Soon she's gonna find  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground  
Won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind,  
She should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better

The entire Rachel just kept glancing back and forth between James and Santana. She felt so bad for James having to play for this garbage when it was aimed at her. He smiled through the entire thing and seemed to trying to hold back his laughter just as much as she was. Santana was doing the same the entire time.

Quinn might've been trying to sound threatening like in the original song but her airy voice couldn't pull it off. Her over exaggerated pointing didn't help either because it was unnecessary. Everyone knew she was pissed at Rachel and Santana for breaking her and Sam up, 'stealing' her rebound guy, and being Sam's rebound. Overall, the entire thing was like watching a tiny chihuahua epically failing to be a lion.

"Well, thank you Quinn. Please, sit down." Mr. Shuester just stared at the group, looking disappointed. "You know this normally the time where I tell you all that you guys are supposed to be a family and that you're all each other have, but recently I've been told that I should just stick to teaching Spanish. So you know what, I'm going to leave this mess for you guys to pick up. Get out of here. We're done for the day."

And with that, the groups formed. Puck and Lauren quickly joined Rachel who was with James and Mercedes. Sam and Santana had quickly left to talk while Mike, Tina, Brittany and Artie grouped together trying to stay out of everything all together. Finn and Quinn each stood alone, neither looking at each other.

Lauren was glancing back and forth between Quinn and Rachel, as Quinn was still glaring at Rachel as if she was the reason her entire life had fallen apart in one day. "Need me to throw her around a little bit? It did wonders on Santana."

Rachel laughed. "Thanks but I think we should avoid violence all together right now. There's been enough fighting today."

"Yeah, I wish I would've been there to help Sam with Finn. It would've made my day."

"But then I would've been forced to step in and possibly have gotten hurt. Would you want that on your conscience?"

Puck glared for a second but then softened. "Need me to give you a ride home?"

"Nope, she's mine tonight," James said wrapping his arms around Rachel from behind. "She'll be safe with me though, don't worry."

"See you later guys," Rachel said waving back as James pulled her from the room.

Everyone responded except for Quinn and Finn, who were still silently standing ten feet apart. When Rachel and James were gone though, Finn finally spoke. "Why is she dating him? It's so stupid, trying to make me jealous. If she wants me back she could just have me."

Before Puck could even move an inch toward Finn, Quinn had slapped him hard across the face. "What the hell Finn! You make me cheat on my boyfriend who was committed to me, which ends up making me lose him and then when I actually need you to make things better, you're whining about how Rachel keeps ignoring you. Stop being such a child and freaking choose already!" Then she stormed out of the room.

"I'd say more dude, except she said it all. But I will add, if you even think about singing another song to win Rachel back, I won't let Sam and Mike stop me this time. You will be dead on the floor before you can even finish the first verse." Puck grabbed Lauren's hand. "Let me give you a ride home."

* * *

At the restaurant, James and Rachel had completely forgotten about that day. They were finally sitting down and getting to know each other. James had to younger sisters in junior high and both of his parents were teachers. He also loved to play baseball and did a lot of running during the summer. It wasn't much, but anything Rachel knew about him was improvement. For being in the same room half the time for the past two years, they hardly knew anything.

When they were almost done, Rachel's phone buzzed. "Do you mind if I take this. It's and Santana and I can get rid of her quick if I tell her I'm with you."

When James nodded, Rachel quick flipped the phone open, only to nearly drop it at the sound of Santana's scream. "Oh my gosh Rach, Sam actually wants to go out with me! He was so grateful about me telling him about Quinn and Finn that he's decided to give me chance!" More screaming followed.

"That's great Santana, and I will be very glad to give you a huge hug tomorrow but I'm kind of on a date right now. We can hang out tomorrow and have a girl's night to celebrate. How's that sound?"

She seemed to calm down a little. "Okay, sounds cool. But oh my gosh I can't believe it!"

"I'm happy for you San! Bye!" Rachel quickly shut her phone and sighed. "Thank goodness something good came out of today."

"I know! Does the drama ever end for you gleeks?"

Rachel blushed but continued. "It's just crazy. Everything just changes so fast."

"I've noticed. Relationships change. Friendships change. Like, all of a sudden, Puck seems to be protecting you. What's up with that?"

"Is someone slightly jealous?" Rachel asked, avoiding what was surely about to happen.

"No, it's just seems like he's always putting up this tough guy act but with you he suddenly becomes an older brother or something. Why?"

"Do you really wan to know?" Rachel didn't want to do this but it seemed to might as well do it before they got too far into their relationship.

"Yeah, I do. Why? Is it some big secret?"

"Yeah, sort of. Come on, let's go. It will be easier to show you rather than tell you."

Five minutes later, James was following Rachel home. Obviously though he didn't know exactly what that meant. When Rachel pulled into her driveway, she saw Puck glancing through the window, but he quickly disappeared. She hoped he was ready for this.

James was at her side when she pushed open the door. The first view he got was Puck sitting on the couch and Sara jumping up into Rachel's arms. "James, this is where I live."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ha! i pulled this one out of my butt. I really hate studying. It's a little shorter than usual but i figured that you guys wouldn't mind seeing how you finally get to figure out why Rahcel lives with Puck. So be happy and enjoy!**

Rachel couldn't read James's current expression. From all she could see was he was still taking in the sight of Sara. Granted Sara was nine but he probably still hadn't registered that yet. "Rachel, who is he?"

"Remember what me and Noah were talking about yesterday?"

"Yeah, you were talking about sucking face with someone." James didn't even smile at that.

"Well, this is him."

"Oh." Sara looked at him for a moment then whispered to Rachel, "He's real cute."

"Yes he is." James still wasn't smiling. "Do you have any homework?"

"No."

"Sara?"

"Yes. But Noah said I didn't have to do it."

"Well, Noah is a liar. Go up to your room and get it started."

Sara jumped down out of Rachel's arms and ran upstairs. She turned to James, who still hadn't moved. "Is she..?"

"No. I would've been eight if she was."

He sighed with relief, but then his eyes shifted to Puck. "What about him?"

"You're going to need to sit down for this story." James looked a little scared. She wanted to know what ideas were running through his head. But then again, maybe she didn't.

She led him into the kitchen, Puck following behind them. He knew that Rachel would have a hard time telling this, even after the four years that had past since.

"Have you heard the assumptions about me at school?"

James was taken aback by the question. Where could this possibly lead? "Well, a lot of people say you're loud, bossy, and think to highly of yourself." He paused for a second but quickly went on. "You know I don't think that right?"

"Yeah, I know that." Rachel gave a big sigh. She didn't want to have to talk about this. She never told Jesse or even Finn about what happened with her dads. But James was so much more than them. She hadn't had to work hard, flirt, or be someone she wasn't for him. So she pushed on.

"Another assumption people have about me is that I have an amazing and perfect home life. And I do, just not with my dads. Honestly, when I was younger I still spent a lot of time here. I didn't want to be home alone or with my generally drunk dads. They were pretty horrible alcoholics. They'd come stumbling home past midnight and then wouldn't wake up until after noon for work. I had to care of myself. That's why I grew up so fast. Mrs. Puckerman helped though. She was always there for me at the temple and she'd come by sometimes and check on me. For a while, everything was fine. I could manage."

"But I'm guessing things got worse."

"When I was about thirteen, yes. Once, I got older, my dads apparently remembered they had a daughter. They would pull me out of bed at two in the morning and beat me. It went on for a while before I finally ran away and came here. Everyone was happy I'd gotten out of there. It took my dads a couple of months to find me, but they finally did. I was home alone that night when they crashed through the door. They started beating me so badly I went unconscious. I'm not sure how long it lasted."

Rachel could feel tears welling behind her eyes. She hated this story. That's why she never told it. It only brought back the feeling of loneliness and how she couldn't easily trust anyone. She thought about it everyday though and knew she would until she died. Unfortunately, it wasn't something easily forgotten. She regained control of her breathing and carried on.

"The next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed with Noah and Libby standing over me. The doctor said my dads probably would've ended up raping and killing me if Noah hadn't shown up."

And there Rachel broke. She didn't think it was possible for her to continue speaking. Before James could even think about what to do, Puck had her up in his arms. Sobbing, Rachel didn't notice the look on James's face. Even if she had, she wouldn't have been able to describe it with an emotion. He just looked as if he was intruding, like he was an outsider.

When Rachel had finally stopped crying and pulled away, Puck still looked concerned. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine."When she turned to James though, her face fell a little more. "Are you okay? I know that was a lot to take in but it looks like you didn't take it well."

James thought everything over for a moment. It was going to be hard to put into words. "I know this going to come out differently than I want it to, but I feel like there's so much more between you and Puck."

Rachel looked at James in horror. "There has never been _anything _between me and Noah!"

"I know. That's not what I meant. I mean I feel… I feel like there's something there that I can't replace. Something that I can never be better than."

"Oh my gosh James. Do you have any idea how much you have come to mean to me in these past couple of days? Last week, I had no idea how quickly I could fall for you. Now I can't even imagine a day without you!"

"I get that Rachel, I do. It's just Puck gets you. He knows your past and knows what's going to remind you of it. He's ready to comfort you when that happens."

"But I don't want to remember! In the past four years, you're the only person who's been able to make me forget! When I'm with you, I only see you. I don't know or care about anything else going on. The second that you leave, I hear or see something that makes me think of what happened and I hate it! I wish I could erase it all from my mind!"

"I believe you, I really do! But I feel like I'm always going to be second best."

Rachel stared in disbelief. "So what does this mean?"

"It means… that I'm just going to need time to think about this. I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Sure." He didn't like her short answer and when he leaned in to kiss her, she pulled back. He was hurt, but he understood."

Once he was out the door, Rachel flung herself on the couch, just crying. She couldn't think of anything else to do. Puck, who had stayed uncharacteristically quiet during the exchange between James and Rachel, quietly came over next to her. "If you're going to do this Rach, at least get up in your bed."

When she didn't move though, Puck took matters into his own hands. He scooped her up off the couch and carried her upstairs to her room. Sara came out to see what was going on after hearing the yelling. "Is Rachel going to be okay?"

"I think so. She's survived worse."

"That boy was being stupid. You and Rachel could never be together. You're brother and sister! It would be disgusting!"

"You're pretty smart for a nine year old squirt."

"I know!" She skipped back into her room.

Once Rachel was under her covers, Puck turned to leave. Rachel though found her voice and quietly called out, "Don't go." That was all Puck needed to crawl back on top of the bed with Rachel. She immediately curled up into his side. The tears were basically gone with just a few sniffles here and there. "Did I just screw this whole thing up?"

"No," Puck answered strongly. "He's screwing this up if he ends this. He's crazy for Rach, everyone can see that. But if let's 'us' get in the way of this, he's going to lose the best girl on the school."

"Thanks bro. "

"Anything for you sis. Go to sleep."

Before she fell asleep she added, "Please don't hurt James which ever way this turns out. I understand why this situation freaks him out. I would be freaked out to if the situation was reversed with someone like Quinn."

Puck sighed, but agreed. "Fine, but only for you. I hope you know though that the entire time I will be hurting myself not to punch the kid."

"And I can live with that." Within ten minutes then, Rachel's eyes had fluttered shut for the night.

* * *

Outside James was still on the curb, keys not even in his ignition. He was hitting his repeatedly against the steering wheel. How could he be so stupid? Of course he knew Rachel didn't have any feelings for Puck other than love fore a family member. And family had to a part of any relationship. He had probably just screwed that up the way he acted in there. Puck hadn't said anything but the way he looked at him when he left clearly said I will kill you.

He didn't want to lose Rachel over this. He had been so stupid! He really wanted to run back in but he had a feeling that Puck would quickly kick him out. It wasn't the time.

After ten minutes, he finally pulled away from the house. He was glad he did because when he got to the turn to get off the street, a woman in scrubs turned on to the street. He had a nasty feeling that Puck would be telling his mom about what had just happened soon.

When he pulled into his driveway, he was still thinking. He had to something big for Rachel to make up for being such an ass tonight. He couldn't think of anything though. Of course it would be a song, as it was the best to Rachel's heart, but what one?

He slumped into the house, ignoring his parent's questions about his day and if he was hungry and why he looked so sad. After dropping his bag off in his room, he plopped down in front of the piano, thinking hard. He needed something that described Rachel and how much she meant to him. In the past few days she'd come to be his everything. His favorite person to be with.

Then he remembered the numbers Sam had done a few days ago with the other glee guys, when he still had a chance to keep Quinn. He quickly pulled out some blank sheet music. He had a lot of re-composing to do.

* * *

"He really said that?" Puck nodded at his mom's mortified face. It would've been funny if the situation wasn't so serious. "To even think of you two liking each other like that is weird. You two are just so close I forget that she's not actually related to this family."

"I know. It's crazy. I used to think about her that way but then I realized how that wouldn't work in our situation. I let it go and put those feelings into seeing her as a sister."

"Well, it's time to put the brotherly side of yours into action. What are you going to do?"

"I have to wait and see what him and Rachel decide. I promised her I wouldn't hurt him, but if it ends up that he breaks her heart, I don't know if I can keep that promise."

"Maybe she doesn't think he'll break up with her. Maybe she has faith that he likes her enough that he'll overcome this."

"Who knows. We'll see tomorrow though."

Libby sighed. She'd never had this kind of drama when she was younger. "It was a long day. I'm just going to heat up some leftovers and go to bed."

"Kay." Puck got up to leave, but paused at the kitchen door. "Can I ask you something mom?"

"Of course honey.

"Why don't you push me into being with Rachel? I mean, the way you used to talk she is the perfect fit to my ideal wife."

Libby thought a moment. "I used to want you two together, and I used to see that you wanted to be with her to. But after she had been living with us for a couple of months, I realized that it wouldn't be right. I could see that you were trying your hardest to make her your sister and I didn't want to put pressure on you. You were already doing the right thing before I got to you." She got up and stretched. "I also gave up the idea of a Jewish bride for you anyway. After seeing all the girls you've been with, I know you wouldn't listen to me if you found the one you truly loved."

Puck smiled. His mom knew him better than he thought sometimes. "Thanks mom."

"Anything for you sweetie. Now get to bed."


	5. Chapter 5

**Super-duper sorry this is super0duper late. I didnt know where i wanted to end this but eventually i came a little short. But yeah, it's here and i have an awesome oneshot ready in case I'm not ready in two days, which i proabably won't be. I tell ya i hate chemistry. Anyway, enjoy and revieew! :)**

Rachel took her time on the way to school the next morning. She didn't want to go this morning. She was so afraid that she would lose the person that had brought completely out of the ashes of her previous hell. But when she did walk into the auditorium, she heard James's voice and nearly melted. She _really _didn't want to lose him.

_So many times I wished  
You'd be the one for me  
But never knew it'd get like this  
Girl, what you do to me_

You're who I'm thinkin' of  
Girl, you ain't my runner up  
And no matter what  
You're always number one

My prize possession, one and only  
Adore you girl, I want you  
The one I can't live without  
That's you, that's you

You're my special little lady  
The one that makes me crazy  
Of all the girls I've ever known  
It's you, it's you

My favorite, my favorite  
My favorite, my favorite girl  
My favorite girl

You're used to goin' out your way  
To impress these Mr. Wrongs  
But you can be yourself with me  
I'll take you as you are

I know they said believe in love  
It's a dream that can't be real  
So girl let's write a fairytale  
And show 'em how we feel

You're who I'm thinkin' of  
Girl you ain't my runner up  
And no matter what  
You're always number one

My prize possession, one and only  
Adore you girl, I want you  
The one I can't live without  
That's you, that's you

_You're my special little lady  
The one that makes me crazy  
Of all the girls I've ever known  
It's you, it's you_

My favorite, my favorite  
My favorite, my favorite girl  
My favorite girl  
Baby it's you

My favorite, my favorite  
My favorite, my favorite girl  
My favorite girl

You take my breath away  
With everything you say  
I just wanna be with you  
My baby, my baby, oh

My miss don't play no games  
Treat you no other way  
Than you deserve  
'Cause you're the girl of my dreams

My prize possession, one and only  
Adore you girl, I want you  
The one I can't live without  
That's you, that's you

You're my special little lady  
The one that makes me crazy  
Of all the girls I've ever known  
It's you, it's you

My prize possession, one and only  
Adore you girl, I want you  
The one I can't live without  
That's you, that's you

You're my special little lady  
The one that makes me crazy  
Of all the girls I've ever known  
It's you, it's you

You're my favorite girl  
(My favorite, my favorite)  
Favorite girl, favorite girl, favorite girl  
(My favorite, my favorite girl, my favorite girl)

Favorite girl, favorite girl, favorite girl  
(My favorite, my favorite, my favorite)  
(My favorite girl, my favorite girl)  
Favorite girl

Rachel slowly walked up to the stage, not letting James see her. His voice was filled with depth and emotion. She enjoyed his slower, smoother version to the jumpy, auto tuned original. "You did some thinking last night then," Rachel said finally speaking up.

James jumped at Rachel's voice, but when he saw her smiling he beamed at her. "Yeah, you could say that."

"What made you come to your obvious conclusion?"

He smirked. "It didn't take long. Just had to hit my head against the steering wheel a few times." He stood up from the piano and jumped off the stage. "Rachel, the second I left your house last night I realized how stupid I'd been. If there was anything between you and Puck, you would never have been with me in the first place. You're not the type to lead someone on like that. And that made me realize that everything you said last night, all of it was the truth. You wouldn't say something without meaning it. You're always honest, and I think the entire glee club would agree with that statement."

James pulled Rachel into a tight hug. "Rachel, I honestly couldn't go a day without you. I also couldn't watch you be with any other guy. I love you."

Rachel pulled out of the hug but kept her arms around James's shoulders and his arms around her waist. Yeah, maybe a little early in the relationship, but she didn't care. She knew deep sown that she was finally with the one she was meant to be with. "I love you too."

James's eyes widened at her response. He totally hadn't expected that. "Are you serious?"

"Like you said, I mean what I say." Smirking, she pulled him down to her height for a long, deep kiss. She didn't know how long they stood there, as their kiss slowly turned into a make out session, but eventually someone burst through the auditorium doors behind them.

"What the hell is going on?" James and Rachel quickly jumped apart, but Rachel's face quickly turned in a scowl when she saw Finn in the doorway. She was so sick of this. Couldn't he just give up already? "I'm kissing my boyfriend Finn! Is that wrong all of a sudden?"

"Yes actually, it is because I'm your guy Rachel! Why don't you see that?" There was desperation in Finn's voice that almost made Rachel feel sorry for him. Almost.

She marched strait up to him and smacked him across the face. "If you haven't gotten this through your thick skull yet, do it now. I'm not with you anymore. You made that very clear by making out with Quinn and forcing her to cheat. So you know what, go and do that. She made it very clear she wants you wanting her and not me. Save us all some trouble and just be with her."

Finn let out a loud roar and rounded on James. "This is your fault. You're supposed to be in the background, beating away on the drums. Why did you go and steal her away?"

James just shook his head at Finn's stupidity. "I didn't steal man. You let her go."

Another roar of anger and then Finn was running at James. Before he could move Finn had tackled him to the ground and was trying to punch any available body. James was doing a pretty good job dodging the flying fists, but he couldn't get Finn off of him. Rachel tried to pull Finn off, but she had a hard time has every time she got close she almost got hit in the face from Finn's elbow as he pulled back his fist.

But then there was the sound of feet running into the auditorium. Puck and Mike were quickly pulling Finn off James and then had him pinned to ground, doing the exact same thing to Finn as he had just been doing with James, only with more success.

Rachel ran to James and hugged him tightly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm good. Are you okay? He basically flattened you on his way to me."

"Yeah I'm fine. God I was scared. If you ever get in a fight with anyone again I don't think I can handle it."

"I don't think you'll have to worry. Now that I'm with you I think Puck's got my back. Just a question though, how pissed is at me about last night?"

"I made him promise to be nice so even if he is mad at you he's not aloud to show it."

James smirked but didn't say anything other than, "I love you."

"I love you too." But then someone else came running into the auditorium. It was Mr. Shuester.

He quickly pulled the two boys off of Finn. "This is the getting ridiculous! What happened this time?"

Finn had jumped up quickly and yelled, "Those two guys fucking jumped me!"

"Yeah so that we could stop you from trying to kill James!" Puck screamed back. They almost attacked each other again but Mr. Shuester and Mike held them back. "Touch him again and I'll kill you myself Hudson. Same thing if you even come near Rachel anymore. She's made it clear that she doesn't want you!"

"Ha! Not going to give up that easy man!" He pulled himself out of Mr. Shuester grip and stormed out of the auditorium.

Mr. Shuester turned on Rachel but she cut him off before he even spoke. "I'm not going to go after him! None of this is my fault!"

"But don't you see what it's doing to the group? It can all be fixed if you just end it with James and stick to Finn!"

"And then have my heart crushed because I gave up on the one guy who's let me be myself and then have it be crushed again because Finn can't get over himself and dumps me again! It's not going to happen!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's not! Why do you always blame me for this shit! If you would talk to Finn and make him grow up and stop acting like a child that gets everything he wants when he asks for it, then maybe our 'family' wouldn't be as dysfunctional as it is! I'm sorry Mr. Schuester but I'm destroying my happiness for everyone else." Grabbing James's hand she pulled him out of the auditorium with Puck and Mike right behind them.

Once at Rachel's locker she finally broke down crying. James quickly stepped in before Puck could and held her. "It's going to be okay. You just proved to Schue that it's going to take a lot to break us up. I don't think he'll attack you like that for a while."

Rachel couldn't say anything at the moment, so she just let her tears run out before she pulled away. "I know it's just too much. If Finn would just stop being a hypocrite it would all be so much easier."

"I know but we have plenty of people to help us deal with him." He kissed the top of her head as she pulled away.

"Thank you guys," she said to Mike and Puck. "I wouldn't have been able to stop that if you hadn't shown up. I tried but I just couldn't get in there."

"Good," Puck said with a smirk. "I wouldn't want you getting hurt in that." Rachel smiled and hugged her brother.

"How did you guys find us anyway, " James asked.

"Followed the sound of Finn's roar." Mike laughed. "If only he used that much volume when he sang." They all laughed as Tina, Mercedes, Santana and Sam showed up.

"So, I heard Finn got pretty beat up this morning. Thanks guys," Sam said to Mike and Puck. Rachel eyed the intertwined hands between Sam and Santana. Catching her glances, Santana smiled and leaned into Sam's shoulder.

They kept talking until the bell rang and then Rachel tugged James away. "Listen, please don't tell anyone about what I told you last night. I haven't been able to tell anyone yet and I know I'm going to have to do it soon. It's just not time yet."

"I totally understand. When you're ready I'll be right by your side." Rachel smiled at his support and went into her first hour.

* * *

Later when Santana and Rachel were walking to their third class, they were suddenly surrounded by the hockey team. Each one of them had a slushy in their hands. Before they even had a chance to run, the two girls had slushies being thrown at them from all sides.

They heard laughter coming from an airy voice behind them. "Told you there was nothing I did better than revenge."

Rachel had to hold Santana back who was swearing very loudly at Quinn. She kept calm though. "Please, do you honestly think this is bad to us? Like we haven't been pelted by slushies before. But I'll give you this. You're definitely a lot better at revenge than you are at keeping boyfriends."

Quinn let out a small screech and stormed away. Once she was out of sight she felt it was safe let go of Santana who was still cursing at the blonde under her breath. "Come on, we can skip English and lunch today. Let's go to your place and get a change of clothes."

Santana looked shocked. "Rachel Berry, suggesting to skip class? I'm very impressed." Rachel smiled at her friend and linked arms with her. Before they left they found the Puck, James and Sam to tell them what happened and that they were leaving. "And if I found out any of the hockey players have been beaten up when I get back, there will be hell to pay."

Santana laughed. "Please, go for it. It'll be funny to see Azmio with a black eye."

"Santana!"

"Come on B, you know you want them to."

"Yes I do but Puck and Sam have already been in a fight this week. I don't think they need another one under their belts."

Santana rolled her eyes and yanked her towards the doors. They took Santana's car to her place, where her parents were thankfully gone. They took there time going through all of Santana's clothes as they really didn't want to go back to school. They didn't want to see the possible brewing of another fight.

"You sure you don't want to stop at your place for some of your own clothes?"

"Nah, I'm fine in you're tight fitting jeans for a couple classes. Besides, I kind of want to see James's reaction when he sees me in these," Rachel said checking out her own ass in the mirror.

"Won't lie B, you look sexy in those jeans. If I wasn't with Sam I might start making out with you right now. Keep them."

"For real? You sure San?"

"Totally, have you seen my house? I think I have enough to buy a new pair."

"Thanks San, you're the best." Rachel walked over and hugged her. She knew she was squirming under the emotional contact, but she seemed to relax.

Pulling away, Santana had a smirk on her face. "Now we need to go to your place sometime. You're not just getting those jeans for free."

"I thought my friendship would be enough." They laughed together as they climbed back into Santana's car. "We have another half hour before we need to be back. Sure you don't want to stop by your place?"

"You know what, let's go," Rachel said.

Santana turned in shock. "Did not expect you to cave that fast. Oh well, show me the way. I need to find a new spot for a party."

"Well, do you know the way to Noah's?"

"Of course I do. I've been there a lot in my past."

"Well, head that way."

"Okay." They rode in silence for five minutes, Rachel's mind spinning with what she was doing now. Maybe she was still feeling open from last night with James or maybe it was the jeans talking but she wanted to tell Santana. Santana was the closest friend she had in years next to Puck. It felt wrong not to tell her.

She turned onto the road that led to Puck's house. "Okay, how far in?"

"Do you know how far Noah's house is in?"

"Yes B, I know where Puck's place is."

"Well just pull into there."

Santana did a quick slam on the breaks. "What?"

"I said, pull into Noah's place."

"You mean… you live with..?" Rachel nodded her head at Santana's stammering.

She stared in shock for a moment. Then, apparently at a loss for word, she said, "Wanky."


	6. Chapter 6

**Its up! its up! Sorry this took forever. Last week was prettty stressful and this weekend was super busy. But its up! thank you to the people who story alert this and favroite it! so awesome! and thank you to the few who review it! ill try to be faster next time but i dont think i will happen soon. busy week ahead! enjoy!**

* * *

They never went inside. The girls were fine just sitting outside the house talking. Rachel gave Santana a shorter story about her dads than she had given James, but Santana seemed to understand. Rachel could tell she still wasn't comfortable showing emotions but she did lean over Rachel when she started crying.

They didn't know how long they sat there before Santana started the ignition and pulled out and headed back to school. "You know what we need to do now?"

"What's that?"

"Throw a kickass party."

"No Santana! I'm not letting the whole school know about this!"

"Not the whole school, just the glee kids. They deserve to know."

Rachel felt guilty. "Of course they deserve to know. I just don't want to dump this on them, plus I don't think I'm ready for that."

"Well, maybe me or Puck can. You don't have to do all the talking all the time Rachel."

She smiled. "Maybe. I'll talk to Noah about it."

"Puck not up for a party? That's the day I give up sex."

"Speaking of that, how far have you gotten with Sam?"

Santana actually blushed, but it took the tension of the conversation. They pulled into the lot just after the bell rang to end sixth period. "Do we really have to go back?"

"Yes, because I want to see James's jaw drop when he sees me in your jeans." They laughed and walked in together. Rachel could feel eyes follow her as they walked to her locker where Puck, James and Sam were waiting. The reaction from James was totally worth the slushy. He was about to speak before he spotted the look on Puck's face and decided to censor what he said. "I have the damn sexiest girlfriend at McKinley."

"Better believe it," Rachel said kissing him. They started walking together to her seventh period, eyes still following Rachel's ass. She felt James pull her in tighter to him protectively. "Is someone a little jealous?"

James laughed but kissed Rachel in the middle of the hallway to prove she was his. One boy was not afraid of him though.

Finn, who had been talking to Quinn, pushed himself off the lockers and made his way to Rachel. "Liking the new look Rach."

Quinn however let out a small screech. "You weren't supposed to go home and put on new clothes man hands!"

Rachel couldn't focus on Quinn's comment as James was about to jump Finn. "No, I was planning on sitting through four classing dripping on corn syrup," she snapped sarcastically. "And your comment is unappreciated Finn."

Finn didn't seem to hear her though, or see the murderous look on James's face. "So I was thinking we should rehearse together in the auditorium later. Work on some new stuff for glee, alone."

Before Rachel could move or say anything, Quinn cam up and slapped Finn across the face. That was happening to him a lot lately. "Jackass!" and then she stormed off.

"My thought exactly." Rachel tugged James away.

"He's never going to get it through his fucking head is he?"

"Unlikely." Rachel saw the still furious look on James's face. "I love you."

He gave her his cute little smile. "Love you too."

At glee later, no one stood up with any new songs. The tension between everyone was high though. Mr. Schue obviously noticed but decided not to comment. "You guys aren't going to focus no matter what we do today so just get out of here." Then he just left.

People started gathering their things when Santana stood up on her chair. "Just so you all know there's a party at Rachel's place this Saturday. Get there around eight. Puck will have the beer so be ready to party."

Murmurs of excitement went around the room as everyone packed up. Rachel sat completely still though. James actually had to pull her up himself to make her move and by then the only others in the room were Puck and Santana.

"How… could you do this? I thought I told you I wasn't ready."

"Stay calm B," Santana said soothingly. "It's been three years. If you're not ready now, you never will be. Puck agrees."

Puck put his arm around Rachel's shoulders. "I know you can do this. And all three of us will be there to help."

Rachel looked around at her brother, sister and boyfriend. Their faces were all set with determination. "You guys really think I can do this?"

James had his arm around her waste. "Of course you can."

"I know you can handle this B."

"The time is now sis."

She thought over it for a moment. Still not smiling she said, "Well then, we have a party to plan."

* * *

Saturday morning cam o quickly for Rachel's likening. She didn't feel ready for this. It was too much to dump on her friends. The other three had confidence in her though.

"There way more than your friends," James repeatedly told her. "They're the next closest thing you have to family."

Rachel didn't know how she would've made it through the week without James. Whenever she looked like she was capable of literally exploding, he stole her away from Santana and Puck. They either went to the park or James's place to make music which normally ended up with them making out.

They did that Thursday night and Rachel met James's parents. His dad seemed a little uptight but Rachel loved his mom. The moment they had walked through the door Rachel had been taken into a large hug from her. She was an easy conversationalist like Rachel so they got along well.

She had decided to drop the bomb about her dads right away thought to get it out of the way. They both seemed a little shocked at first, but quickly accepted it. His mom went as far as to offer their place if it was ever necessary.

Not it was James's turn to meet Libby. She wasn't sure about him at when he came over around noon on Saturday first having heard about his reaction to Rachel's past. After a couple hours of watching them together though, she calmed down.

Puck and her watched them from the kitchen as they watched a movie. "She finally got lucky, didn't she?"

Puck nodded in agreement. "I think she did."

Libby looked at him worriedly. "Do you still wish it was you?"

He shock his head. "No. She's my sister. That's how it's supposed to be."

Santana showed up around six. She almost completely screamed out that the beer was in her car before she spotted Libby. "Don't worry Satan," Puck called out. "She's leaving soon. She'll take Sara to a friend's house and stay there for the night."

Santana relaxed and plopped down between Rachel and James. "So I told everyone to head towards Puck's place and park where my car is, that way they can still get her without knowing it's Puck's place."

"Thanks San," Rachel said hugging her now considered sister.

"Anything for my B."

There was a knock on the door at eight ten. Mercedes came in with Kurt. "So this is where Berry lives." She caught sight of Puck and looked shocked. "Thought you'd be the last one here."

"That'd be kind of hard."

Her follow up question was interrupted by Artie and Brittany coming through the door. Everyone else except Finn and Quinn showed up five minutes after that. They all seemed surprised to see that Puck was acting as if he was comfortable and wasn't already guzzling down a beer.

Santana got up and brought all the alcohol into the kitchen so everyone would follow her. Before anyone could grab a drink though, Rachel got everyone's attention. "Everyone, I need to tell you something."

None of them seemed interested about what she had to say but listened anyway. "This isn't just where I live, Puck lives here to. I moved in with him and his family four years ago."

People's faces went from relaxed to confused to shocked. A lot of them shouted "Really?" and "Why?" Rachel let them muttered amongst themselves for a minute before she continued. "I know a lot of you are thinking I live here for… sexual or child-related reasons, but it's not like that at all. When I was younger my dads beat me and tried to rape me. After they were taken away I moved here." Silence. "I know it's a lot to take in but I just thought you all deserved to know. I mean, you guys are the next closest thing I have to family and-"

Mercedes got up and shut her up by hugging her. "We get it diva. I'm glad you told us. It's a little shocking but this just means we can come over now and have more diva fun without Finn around or my parents yelling at us to keep it down."

Rachel smiled. "Thank you for understanding." They laughed as she started tearing up and Kurt joined their hug. Soon after everyone else had joined in.

Santana, who was obviously bored with all the emotional crap yelled, "Okay, let's party!"

And they did. Everyone had a drink and the music was blaring. James stayed at Rachel's side the entire time. "So how are feeling? Is it good to finally let it all out?"

"It feels amazing," Rachel said smiling. She felt so relaxed with everyone over. Puck didn't need to hide their relationship anymore. No more lying about why people couldn't come over or hiding when Puck had friends over. Just a normal living situation. "Well, almost as amazing as this." She leaned in and gave James a long kiss. "Thank you for not leaving me."

"I don't think I could have."

Around nine though someone came crashing through the door. "Guys I thought the party was at Rachel's place! Why are you at Puck's?" He stopped when everyone turned to glare at him.

"Why are you even here?" Mike yelled at him. "I thought you had plans with Quinn."

"Well duh, I cancelled them. No way was I missing my chance to win Rachel back."

That was all it took to have James and Puck charge forward at Finn. James reached him first tackling him to the ground. Puck then joined him in punching him where ever possibly. Sam quickly joined in the fight, but Rachel and Santana were close behind.

Rachel pulled James out of the pile first and Santana grabbed Sam out. It took the both of them to pull off Puck though. When they had finally managed to push him into the couch, Rachel turned on Finn. "Would you please be kind enough to leave my house?" she shouted at him.

He looked confused. "This is Puck's place." His eyes widened in comprehension. "You… you live with Puck?"

"Yes, I live with Noah and his family."

Suddenly Finn was angry. "Why am I only finding out about this now? We dated for ages last year! How could you not tell me?"

"Because you never asked! You never showed any signs that you even cared! You never noticed that Noah drove me home half the time! I also couldn't trust you! I wasn't sure if you'd break my heart in two months or two days!"

"Maybe if you would've trusted me we wouldn't have broken up!"

"Yes we would've Finn, because we weren't meant to be together!"

"Since when have you thought that?"

"A long time Finn! Learn it. Now leave me house."

It looked as if Finn was going to keep arguing, but then looked around at the four guys with livid expressions on their faces. "This isn't over Rachel." He then proceeded to slamming the door behind him.

"Yeah, go suck your own dick," Rachel said into the momentary, slightly awkward silence.

Everyone laughed and Kurt turned the volume back up on the music. James saw that Rachel wasn't okay though and was by her side immediately. "Rach, are you going to be okay?"

Rachel was flustered. "Am I okay? Are you okay? You just got in another fight! Are you hurt?"

"Rachel, he didn't even get a finger on me. I don't thin Puck would have let him. Now come on, this shook you up more than you're letting on. You're no longer aloud to drink," he pulled the beer out of her hand and set it down, "or party." He pulled her towards the stairs and up to her room.

He folded down her covers and tucked her in under them. "Do you want me to stay or just sleep?"

"Please stay." That was all it took for James to crawl on top of the bed. "I love you James."

"I love you too Rachel."

He bent down to kiss her gently. She pulled him closer though and he wasn't going to resist. Eventually Rachel ended up out from under her covers and under James. Her hand slowly moved down his chest and to the top of his jeans. He grabbed her hand though.

"Are you sure?" James didn't know why he asked that. Why would he want to stop this? But it had only been a week. Weren't they rushing?

"I love you James. Of course I'm sure."

She was just undoing his jeans when Puck crashed through the door.

James quickly flipped off of Rachel, but Puck knew better. "Nice try buddy. Don't even think about _ever_ doing it with my little sister." He was smiling while he said this, but James wasn't sure whether or not he was joking. "But I do need to talk to her, so say good night and you can crash on the couch tonight if you want."

James smiled at the gesture and leaned over to kiss Rachel good night. "Love you, sweet dreams."

"Love you too."

Once he was out of the room Puck flopped down on top of the bed, sighing loudly. "What am I going to do with you? I can't turn my back for five minutes without having to worry about you."

"You do that to yourself. You don't need to worry about James."

Puck smirked. "You're my sister. Yes I do. But how are you after that? You going to be all right tonight?"

"I'll be just fine. I would have been better of you hadn't so rudely interrupted." Puck scowled at Rachel's playful smirk. "What about you? I saw Lauren wasn't here tonight."

Puck laughed. "She said she didn't care about a Rachel Berry party. Said she had better things to do."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Nah, I'm over her. She yanked me around too much anyway. The Puckster needs a woman who bows down at his feet."

"Maybe 'the Puckster' needs that, but not Noah." Rachel smiled up at her brother who smirked back. "But Noah doesn't need a Lauren anyways. There are better people for him out there."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. Someone's bound to see through all of your Puckness one day and fall for the Noah inside."

"Thanks sis."

"Anytime bro."


	7. Chapter 7

**Ha! this one was up faster! And I'm already writing chapter 8! Enjoy!**

* * *

A few weeks passed after the party in a comfortable yet uneasy calm. Finn had finally backed off from his attempts to get Rachel back, but he still glared maliciously at James during glee rehearsals. He wasn't harmful though.

Quinn was honestly more trouble. She has enlisted the hockey team to slushy her and Santana three more times before she gave up. She then resorted to more threatening songs in glee that she couldn't pull off. Most of the time they ended up losing control and laughing at her half way through her song.

When all of that failed, she used the only weapon she apparently had left. She had quickly learned about Rachel's living situation and just as quickly spread it around the school. It looked as if she was satisfied for a short amount of time but it quickly wore off. The school muttered about the news for a couple days but then no one cared. In fact it had worked to Rachel's benefit. After Karofsky and his friends found about Rachel living with Puck they backed off. They finally got to see Puck's protective side.

Overall everything was actually okay for Rachel. Glee was fine now that everything had settled down, even if Mr. Schue was casting wary looks over his band of misfits. He occasionally glanced over at James too, as if all of this was his fault.

Rachel however brushed it off. She wasn't going to let any of Mr. Schue's negativity bring her down. She felt as if she had finally gotten everything right.

Time flew by though. About a month after the party James and his family were flying out to California to visit some family. "What am I going to do without you for a week?"

They were in his music room, and it was huge! It had all of his guitars, basses, his drums and a giant piano. It was soundproof and connected to his bedroom. "Well, you can hang out with Puck and Santana for a while before you get bored or annoyed by their constant bickering. Then I guess you'll spend time with Brittany or Mercedes and Kurt. Eventually though you'll miss so much you'll come here and sleep on the piano bench just to soak in the smell of me."

"Aww." Rachel smiled. "You'd let me do that?" She came over and sat on the bench.

"You know where the key is." He bent down to kiss her at the same time she leaned up. It didn't stop with just one kiss like many other times on the piano bench. This time however James wanted more than usual.

Still passionately making out with Rachel, he helped her to stand up with him and walked over to the door to his bedroom. This moment was to perfect let it slip by. "How about a little something to tide you over for the week?"

"I'd enjoy that," Rachel said with a smirk. She pulled him by the shirt onto his bed.

* * *

On Monday Rachel came to school with Puck, still smiling about Saturday night. "Will you stop smirking? It's creeping me out!"

Rachel rolled her eyes at her brother, still smiling. "Fine, at least tell me what it's about! Then I'll know whether or not I should be afraid to open my locker this morning."

"Oh that reminds me. Santana and I put hundreds of spiders in you locker last night." She laughed when Puck actually believed her. "Chill! I would never let Santana do that to you. Unless she went without me…"

Laughing again at Puck's worried expression she went on. "Okay, try to remember when I started smiling like this."

He thought for a moment. "Sunday morning when you came home. It was after the first time you'd spent the night at James's." He paused, waiting for her to continue the story. A moment later his face dawned with comprehension. He wasn't completely stupid. He looked furious but couldn't hide the smile beneath.

"Now you can't get mad at me because that would be hypocritical. And you also can't beat up James because… well, he's out of state."

Puck still hadn't spoken. He was trying to gather his thoughts. "I'm… happy about your first time actually. It actually meant something to you. I still haven't had that time yet."

"You will," she said confidently. "I have faith."

The school day passed by drearily. No James meant no one waiting for her between classes. No one willing to give her a quick kiss, except maybe Brittany. But he'd been right, Saturday was filling the hole. It had been perfect for Rachel. She was glad she'd saved herself for James.

After glee though, Rachel found herself cornered. She was putting sheet music away and turned to head to the parking lot and meet Puck to find Finn extremely to close to her face. "How's it going?"

She quickly ducked out from under his arm. "Fine." What was he doing?

"I was thinking that with James out of town we could hang out. Go bowling like we used to."

"Finn, I don't know how many times I have to repeat myself, but no! There is no you and I and until you realize that, I can't hang out with you, ever!"

Finn shrugged it off. "Well if you change your mind, you have my number." He walked out of the room leaving Rachel standing in shocked annoyance. Truth was she'd deleted Finn's number weeks ago.

Her phone buzzed.

**Puck: You comin?**

**Yea I'm coming now**

* * *

Finn persisted in his attempts to get Rachel to go out with him all week. Before math, after glee. She couldn't tell anyone about it though. She didn't want people freaking out and beating people up. She could take care of this herself.

Friday it went to far though. She'd evaded him before and after first hour for once. After glee he cornered her as usual with the same argument. His speeches had become more… passionate as the week went on. He held her there longer or begged more. He'd grab her hands or the sides of her face.

Friday he kept there for almost twenty minutes. "Why won't you out with me?" he screamed in her face.

"Because I have a boyfriend! Who I love! Why don't you go out with Quinn? She'd be perfectly fine using you to become prom queen!"

"I don't want to! She's not you!"

"You mean she's too easy. Pining over you is just so unattractive."

She tried to push past him but he pushed her back up against the wall, and hard.

"Ow! Finn, stop this!"

"I can't." He gave her a hard forceful kiss. She tried to push him off but he was to strong. He forced her lips open and shoved his tongue into her mouth.

She couldn't breath. She was slowly passing. Finn moved his lips to her ear. "I'm going to _make _you want me," he whispered, nibbling her ear.

She regained her breath and tried to squirm away but he only followed her down. He had her pinned to the ground. Returning to her lips his hands traveled down her shirt and ripped it off. Rachel was trying to scream but he was using to much force. When she tried to squirm out again, he shoved his hands against her chest, forcing her shoulders and head to ram against the hard floor. A pain shot down her spine and her head was spinning.

His hands went back down to the top of her skirt. She couldn't move she was so worn out, but she tried a final time to squirm away. Once he felt her feeble attempt to move he slammed her against the floor again.

She didn't know what happened after that. She's blacked out.

* * *

When she woke up Rachel was in a hospital bed. There were only a couple tubes in her arm and bandages were wrapped around her head. Looking over she saw her family staring at her.

Santana stepped forward first. "B, you awake?"

She nodded but stopped. It mad her head throb.

Puck was up next. "I'm so glad you actually woke sis."

Libby and Sara both nodded crying slightly.

They stared at each other for a few minutes. She was so confused though. "What happened?"

Their faces fell. Puck looked angry though. "You don't remember what Finn did to you?"

She shook her head but stopped. Her throat was really dry. "Water?"

Sara quickly grabbed the glass off the side table. Handing it to her she climbed into the bed and hugged Rachel tightly. "I thought you were dead," she choked out.

Rachel's heart clutched. Had it been that bad? "I couldn't leave you guys quite yet." She was looking past Sara at Puck though and repeated, "What happened?"

He sighed. "Mom, could take Sara to get something to eat?"

Libby nodded and picked her daughter up. She bent down and kissed Rachel. "I'm glad you're okay kiddo." Crying, she carried Sara out of the room.

Puck and Santana pulled their chairs up next to the bed. Santana looked somber, like she was also on the verge of tears. Rachel reached out and grabbed her hand. "Hey, I'm okay."

Santana shook head. "I know. It was scary though Rachel."

"What was?"

Puck stepped in. "When I found you. I don't know how everything happened, but you never came out of the school. When you didn't respond to a text I sent you, I went in looking for you. Looking in the choir room I saw Hudson standing over you, pulling up his fucking pants. I burst in there and he just froze. It only took a second for me to tackle and start punching the bastard in the face. A teacher heard the noise and came running. They immediately called an ambulance though when they saw you. You were in a small but scary looking pool of blood from all the times the bastard bashed your head against the floor."

"Wait- pulling up his pants?" Rachel was mortified. "Did he..?"

Santana gave a slight nod. She felt Rachel's hand squeeze hers tighter. She'd broken into loud painful sobs. Puck was at her side holding her at once. "Shh, Rach it's okay. The teacher called the cops and they hauled Finn away. You won't see him for a while now."

It took a while to calm Rachel down. By then her eyes were puffy and her face was bright red. "I'm so sorry B. We should've been watching him this week."

"It's okay. How could you have seen this coming? No one could've guessed it."

"But still-"

"But nothing." Rachel stared at her siblings with fierce defiance. But then her face crumpled. "Does James know?"

Puck gave her a small smile. "I called him about an hour ago and told him. He's going to kill Hudson when he gets back. Can't lie, I'm probably going to help him. But he told me tell you to hang in there and he'll have a much deeper and sympathetic conversation with you when he gets back tomorrow. I thin k he was still in shock."

"Okay, and no killing anyone!" Rachel glared at Puck. "No more violence. I'm sick of everyone beating each other up. Let the cops deal with Finn."

Puck didn't say anything so Rachel took his silence as an agreement. She slumped down, her head pounding."

"Thankfully no," Santana said. "There's some internal bruising and regular bruises, but you'll still be able to have children and stuff. The doc said you were damn lucky."

Rachel sighed. "I know I did. Thank you guys. I don't know what would've happened without you."

"You probably would've died," Santana replied simply, making Rachel laugh. But that made her head hurt.

* * *

James came to see her in the hospital the next day. He was nearly running when he entered her room. "Rachel, oh my God." He was already crawling next to her in the tiny bed. "I'm so sorry I had to leave! If I had been home this never would've happened and-"

Rachel used the common method used to shut her up on James, and she kissed him hard. God she had missed his lips. "Listen, no way is this your fault. Finn finally snapped. Something like this was bound to happen eventually, whether you were home or not."

"But if I'd been there-"

"Finn would've hurt you and we'd both be stuck in separate hospital beds."

"But-"

"James, I'm not hurt and Finn is gone and you're home. Nothing else matters."

James sighed and finally relaxed. "I'm glad you're okay." Rachel snuggled into his side. "You know, you're handling this better than I'd expected."

Rachel avoided the comment. "So how was California?"


	8. Chapter 8

Rachel stayed home from school on Monday. She'd left the hospital Saturday afternoon and had been living on the couch since then. James joined her most of the time including Monday.

On Sunday most of the glee club cam over, including Mr. Schuester. He was the first to speak. "I'm so sorry I kept pushing Finn on you Rachel. I can see now how bad he was for you."

Before Rachel could accept his apology, Kurt and Mercedes pushed him aside and hugged their diva. As everyone else piled in James jumped off the couch and went in to the kitchen where Puck was watching quietly. "Look at her. Remember where she was last year?"

Puck grimaced. "Yeah, dating a bastard and having everyone else ignore her because she was so focused on the jackass."

"And now look at her."

Puck sighed. "Yeah, I have to share her with everyone, even Satan." He looked over at James. "Thanks man. I never saw her as happy with Finn as I've seen her with you. She was never as comfortable around him. She didn't trust him either, especially enough to give herself to him."

James paused, looking fearful. "You know about that?"

"She waited until you were out of the state to tell me, but yeah I know. Don't worry though. I'm not as mad as I thought I would be. Like I said, I've never seen her happier."

"Thank you." James was still standing in shock. He'd never seen Puck treat anyone other than Rachel like this. He was soft, caring, even loving. It was the Twilight Zone.

School was another weird thing. People whispered when ever Rachel walked by on Tuesday. But it wasn't about her this time. They'd talk about how Finn was a bastard or how they felt sorry for her. Rachel still ignored them. The only reason she was dealing with this was because she was blocking it out.

Which is why she started living in James's music room. Sometimes they'd just sit for hours while James played. Sometimes Rachel would add a soft melody to whatever he was playing but she contented herself to sit quietly. She enjoyed listening to his originals, sometimes accompanied by his voice.

But it was all just a distraction. When her mind would wander away from whatever was in front of her, James would look over to find her crying. They'd usually end the night with him holding her on the piano bench.

The weirdest thing that happened though occurred after about a month after the incident. Rachel was with Puck walking to lunch when Quinn appeared in front of them. She wasn't glaring at them as usual. Instead she looked apologetic. "Hey guys."

Rachel proceeded, but cautiously. "Hey Quinn. What's up?"

Quinn paused, but then blurted everything out. "I'm really sorry for being such a bitch. It was stupid and immature what I did. I was just super jealous I guess. I thought Finn was wrapped around my finger and then suddenly he didn't care about me anymore. I was sure you were just dating James to make him jealous and get him back. I was blind though. He just wanted what he couldn't have. So yeah, I'm really sorry."

She was breathing hard from talking so fast. She was also crying. If Rachel didn't believe her words, she believed her tears.

Rachel stepped forward and hugged the emotional blonde. "Thank you for apologizing Quinn. I know that must've been hard."

As much as Rachel was forgiving, Puck was suspicious. "Quinn, I know you and you better not be fucking around here. I mean- if you're just doing this to hurt Rachel again-"

"Noah!"

Quinn gave a shaky laugh. "It's okay Rach. I understand why he feels protective."

"Well, I trust you. But what made you decide to apologize?"

The three of them sat down at the lunch table with the rest of the glee club. "Well since Finn isn't eighteen yet he's under house arrest for a while. He only started being aloud visitors a couple days ago. I visited him yesterday expecting him to be grateful for some company. But all he could do was ask about you. 'Is Rachel still mad? Is she still with James? Do you think I have a chance with her anymore?'"

"Anymore?" Rachel screeched. "When did he?"

"I think that's when it clicked for me. Everyone knows you and James are like, inseparable. He knew you were done with him. He just wanted a challenge."

"So what did you do?"

Quinn laughed harshly. "I was pissed so I started yelling. It was all pretty bitchy, like to get his head out of his ass and his dick out of his mouth. He looked shocked that I could even mange that type of tirade, none the less to even yell at him. Before I stormed out I said that whatever shit was between us was done. I haven't heard from him since and don't really want to."

Santana leaned over and hugged her old best friend. "Glad to have you back Q."

Quinn smiled as she was encased in a large group hug. "Thanks guys. I'm really sorry for all the shit I put you through."

"We know," Rachel said smiling.

* * *

Glee was back to normal. Everyone was happy and working together. It was almost to cliché for even Rachel to bear. But in the back of her mind something kept popping up.

"What happens when Finn comes back?" Rachel asked James and Puck that night.

Both boys tensed up. They didn't like hearing Finn's name. It filled them with anger and the need to hit someone. It was almost like saying Voldemort in a crowd of British wizards.

"Do you honestly think that Figgins will let that bastard back into McKinley?" James said soothingly.

"They let Karofsky back in," Rachel muttered.

Puck scoffed. "What Finn did was worse. And even if he does come back, do you honestly think we'd let him come near you?" He cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"I know you're both perfectly fine along with Mike and Sam and probably Santana, to beat him up for me. But I don't want you guys to get into trouble for me again. I can only hide behind you guys for so long."

"You can hide behind us as long as you want." James pulled Rachel under his arm on the couch. "Don't think about it for now. It's going to be along time before you see him again."

Comforted, for the moment, Rachel relaxed into James and Puck turned on the TV. It was on channel five news which was giving live feed from an accident scene.

"I'm Natalie Rivers and I'm here just outside of the McKinley High School parking lot. Just thirty minutes ago two cars had a head-on collision as one car went down the wrong side of the road."

The red lights from the ambulance were flashing across the screen. "Outside McKinley? I hope it wasn't anyone we know," Rachel worried out loud.

Suddenly the camera zoomed in on two paramedics carrying a gurney into the ambulance. The three of them leaned in closer to see who the victim was. Rachel was the first one to recognize the face underneath the cuts and blood. "Oh. My God."

* * *

That night blurred together for Rachel. She remembered first calling Santana who had already texted her. Then she called Kurt to find out where he was. Next thing she knew she, James and Puck were at the hospital.

There she found Mercedes with Kurt and Carol sobbing into Burt. Looking up Kurt saw Rachel and rushed over to her.

"I'm so sorry Kurt. This must be horrible for your family. But what the hell happened?"

Kurt sat down shaking, head in his hands. "I'm not exactly sure. I think it started yesterday after Quinn left. Finn couldn't do anything. He was frozen all night, closing himself off in his room. Today we all left for school and work. He must've found my dad's harder liquor and started drinking, all day. When I got home I could see he was smashed. I tried to get him to calm down but that just made it worse. He started yelling about he was sick of everyone telling him what to do. Carol got home and did the same thing I did. There was more yelling and then Finn just snatched up his keys and walked out the door. Some alarms went off from this ankle bracelet he has to wear to keep him in check but he ignored them. Next thing we know he's speeding down the street!" Kurt gasped for air. "Carol got in her car and followed him. But it was too late. He ran a red light and swerved. Hit the other car dead on."

Mercedes and Rachel held Kurt in a tight hug. "I know he was a jerk to you Rach, but he was my brother," Kurt said through his tears.

"I know Kurt. I don't blame you at all for how you feel. I get it."

Rachel got up and left Mercedes and Kurt alone. Behind her James was looking at her with an unreadable expression. "So how are you feeling?"

She sighed. "I don't know. It's a mix of emotions, none more prominent than the other." Rachel was choking on her words though. In all honesty, she just felt like crying.

She'd envisioned having a chance next year to be able to try and get passed all the shit that had gone down with Finn and be friends again. She wouldn't let him dig as deep into her as he had before obviously, but she wanted to make glee whole again. It felt weird without the old Finn in it.

James must've been reading her expression because he pulled her into a hug. "I get it. You're obviously upset and I'm definitely not mad. He was your first love. I'd be concerned if you weren't shaken by this."

And with that, Rachel felt it was okay to cry. She sobbed into his chest as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. A few minutes later though, Santana and Quinn burst into the lobby. When they saw Kurt they ran over. "Kurt, are you okay? How is he? What happened?"

Kurt sighed, understandably not wanting to tell the story over again. "It's okay Kurt. I'll fill them in. Go be with your family."

"Thanks diva." He kissed her cheek and joined Carol and Burt. Together they went down the hall to see Finn.

Rachel retold the story to her friends. Santana kept and emotionless face the entire time, but Quinn was slowly falling apart. By the time Rachel had finished, she was curled up against the wall crying.

"Quinn, this isn't your fault." Rachel bent down and hugged her blonde friend. "You didn't tell him to be stupid and get drunk."

She sobbed harder. Rachel felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Puck looking sympathetically at Quinn. "I'll take it from here Rach."

She gave him a warning look. "Be nice."

He waved her off and crouched down. Quinn immediately fell into his arms. Rachel had new questions for her brother but bit her tongue.

Kurt suddenly came out into the lobby, more tears streaking down his face. "Kurt, what's wrong?"

Kurt seemed at a loss for words. "I don't know! All of a sudden everything in his room was quiet. Nothing. Not even the…"

Rachel comprehended his words before the others and Quinn was next. Her sobs came harder and louder. Rachel could see Puck tighten his grip on her.

Burt and Carol came out into the group of teens. Carol was sobbing hysterically. Burt's face was in shock, disbelief.

Rachel held her breath, waiting for one of them to speak.

Burt finally broke the silence. "It happened at 9:12. Finn is dead."

* * *

**Sorry i wouldve warned you about the death in the beginning but then that would've spoiled the ending! :D but yea hope you enjoyed! i know i enjoy reviews!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi! sorry it's late? Yeah, no excuse really. But this is the last chapter! and i have ideas in my head and a couple oneshots ready to type up! Emjoy! Hope you've enjoyed JAD!**

* * *

Other than Quinn's continued earsplitting sobs, everything was quiet. No one moved. Stillness. Quiet.

Santana spoke first. "He's de- gone?" Disbelief in her voice, she sunk down next to Quinn. No tears. Just a look of shock.

Rachel wasn't too aware of her surrounding friends though. She was barely aware of her own body. She could only feel James's arms around her, and his slow rocking. He was prepared for tears, but wasn't sure what to expect.

She wasn't capable of anything though. She'd cried out all her tears. Rachel could only, slowly, let the news sink into her body. First her legs started to wobble. Then her torso was shaking. Then it clicked in her brain. "He's dead."

"Yeah." That was all James could think to say. The news was just as hard for him to accept as everyone else. Yes, he hated the guy for hurting Rachel. But did he deserve to die? No, not really.

Slowly everyone got up to leave. Santana left to talk to the rest of the glee members. Mercedes gave Kurt and his family a hug and went home. Puck was still holding a more quiet Quinn. James and Rachel sat next to them. The four of them huddled together for a while, until they realized Kurt, Carol and Burt had all left as well.

Slowly getting up Puck took Quinn to their car as she had a gotten a ride from Santana. Rachel tried to get a glimpse of Puck's face, but he was doing a good job of hiding it and every emotion.

James arm was still around Rachel as they got into the car. Drawing closer to him she realized how exhausted she was. Rachel was asleep before they arrived home, escaping from the shock and pain.

The next few days melded together for everyone. Most of the weekend was occupied by people coming and going, asking Puck to explain everything. Rachel kept to her room with James, trying to block out the sound of girls crying.

"How are you holding together?" James had asked after nearly two hours of silence between them.

"Barely, but I'm managing. There are strong arms around me, keeping me all in." James just held her even tighter.

Puck came up around noon. "I locked the doors. I'm sick of answering all the same questions." He paused. "They all look shocked by the time I'm done telling them what happened. Like they don't expect Finn to die in the end."

"They don't want to believe it," James said quietly. "None of us do."

James left around five. Libby and Sara were out. Rachel scooted closer to Puck on the couch. "So…"

"So… what?" He replied mimicking her curious tone.

"You and Quinn?"

Puck looked back amused. "Someone very close to all of us in some way just died, and you're asking me about Quinn?"

Rachel kept staring at him with innocent eyes. When he still didn't respond she went on, "We could all use a little love right now. And besides, you're avoiding the question Noah."

"Rach, her ex boyfriend, or whatever he was, of two days just died. Do you honestly think I would try to hit on Quinn right now?"

"Yes."

"Far point, but no. I'm just going to be there for her right now. She's so fragile and I'm afraid of breaking her."

"Aww." Rachel smiled. "Look at the Puckster being all emotional and caring."

"Well, maybe it's not the Puckster. I can be Noah with her."

"Yeah, I know."

He stared back at her. "How are you doing sis?"

Rachel sighed. Why did he have to bring it back to that? "Better than expected, but still breaking. It's going to take a while to heal."

"Well, you're doing a good job of hiding it."

Rachel stared back. "So are you. You haven't cried once." He twitched at the word. "He was your best friend Noah. Come on, you know you want to."

That was all it took. Puck broke down and let it all out. He was Noah in the full, crying into Rachel's shoulder.

* * *

School was depressing. People everywhere wearing black. Cheerleaders breaking down in the middle of the hall. Everyone running to the glee members trying to find out what happened.

They all tried to avoid most questions though. Kurt and Quinn were having a hard enough time as it was.

First hour was the hardest for Rachel. He had been ignorant and annoying, but Finn was still a missing piece to her day. She sat next to Mike though and didn't turn around to see the empty seat behind her.

Every time Rachel saw Quinn that week Puck was by her side. She decided to leave it alone. She was proud of Puck. Not only was he being the big brother she knew, but Quinn good for him. When she wasn't being a bitch anyway. She didn't know how he was handling all the tears though.

Glee was torture. No one even spoke for the first ten minutes. Mr. Schuester finally stood up from the piano. "I think we're all having a difficult time with this today, expressing ourselves with words. So if anyone has anything they would maybe like to sing, you have the floor."

He sat back down and it took a minute, but Puck stood up, holding Quinn steady as she went up front. "I think I speak for all of us when I say Finn hadn't been himself for the last few months. This song is for the real Finn. The Finn that at one time was either our best friend," Puck turned his head away, "a brother we never had," Kurt sobbed, "or the love of our life." Both Quinn and Rachel took in a shaky breath. James almost got up but then Aiden started strumming an acoustic guitar.

_Take a chance, a leap of faith  
Leave the nest  
I guess that's how we've learned to fly  
We spread our wings and rode the wind  
You've chased your rainbows  
I've chased mine_

_It's not always easy being this far apart_  
_But don't you get the feeling_  
_We're connected at the heart_

Puck joined in.

_And we're dreaming under the same moon  
Under the same stars  
I close my eyes, wishin'  
I'm gonna see you soon  
When I see that night sky glowin'  
There's a peace I get from knowin'  
That we're dreaming under the same moon  
Under the same stars tonight  
_

Puck took over the second verse.

_Here I am, and there you are  
I admit there are times I wish I was home  
Then I hear your voice on the line  
Makes me realize I'm never alone  
We've been working so hard  
Try to make it all come true  
But what I want for me, well, that's what I want for you_

_And we're dreaming under the same moon  
Under the same stars  
I close my eyes, wishin'  
I'm gonna see you soon  
When I see that night sky glowin'  
There's a peace I get from knowin'  
That we're dreaming under the same moon  
Under the same stars tonight  
_  
_Oh, baby, we're dreaming under the same moon tonight  
Tonight  
Take a chance, a leap of faith  
Leave the nest, I guess that's how  
Now we're dreaming under the same moon_

Quinn couldn't finish the last refrain of the song. Her sobs had started getting in the way. Rachel was crying to. She couldn't help it. Quinn was right. The Finn she had come to despise wasn't real. He was a stranger.

She felt James come over and wrap his arms around her. His face was a mystery to her because her tears were blurring her vision. Vaguely she heard Mr. Schuester say, "Thank you, Quinn and Puck. If no one else has anything, I think we'll be done today."

"Actually Mr. Schue," Kurt said from the back, "I just have a request for everyone."

Mr. Schuester motioned him up front and Rachel looked up to see Kurt's red and puffy eyes. "As I've told some of you Finn's funeral is Saturday. Carol and my dad have asked that New Directions perform a song for Finn."

Everyone was silent again. Of course they wanted to do it, but could they handle it?

"Did you have a song in mind?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"Yes, we chose a song last night." Ears perked up when Kurt told them the song. There was a small smile on Mr. Schue's face.

"Well, we better start rehearsing."

* * *

Rachel felt better after rehearsal. She was now doing something for Finn. With people who weren't weeping over him because they'd lost their quarterback. With people who cared.

Her and James didn't spend too much time apart that week. Rachel didn't want to be alone and neither did Quinn because she was basically always with Puck. They tried not to talk about Finn too much. It only made things harder.

By Saturday they were ready to send him away. There were too many cheerleaders there for Rachel's liking but everyone from glee, even the band, was there. They brought comfort to Rachel.

Quinn was able to keep her tears silent during the service, as did Rachel as well as Santana. The tears were there and gone in a matter of seconds but it was a lot coming from Santana.

As Finn's casket was rolled away, New Directions got up, ready for their song. Ready to perform for Finn's spirit.

_Oh, Why You Look So Sad?  
Tears are in your eyes  
Come on and come to me now  
Don't be ashamed to cry  
Let me see you through  
'cause I've seen the dark side too  
When the night falls on you  
You don't know what to do  
Nothing you confess  
Could make me love you less_

_I'll stand by you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_Won't let nobody hurt you_  
_I'll stand by you_

_So if you're mad, get mad_  
_Don't hold it all inside_  
_Come on and talk to me now_  
_Hey, what you got to hide?_  
_I get angry too_  
_Well I'm a lot like you_  
_When you're standing at the crossroads_  
_And don't know which path to choose_  
_Let me come along_  
_'cause even if you're wrong_

_I'll stand by you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_Won't let nobody hurt you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_Take me in, into your darkest hour_  
_And I'll never desert you_  
_I'll stand by you_

_And when..._  
_When the night falls on you, baby_  
_You're feeling all alone_  
_You won't be on your own_

_I'll stand by you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_Won't let nobody hurt you_

_I'll stand by you_  
_Take me in, into your darkest hour_  
_And I'll never desert you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_Won't let nobody hurt you_  
_I'll stand by you_  
_Won't let nobody hurt you_  
_I'll stand by you_

The song almost brought Rachel to tears again. It did the trick for Mr. Schuester though. She had to hold herself together, for everyone else. For Kurt. For Carol. For Burt. For the group. They probably couldn't handle another melt down.

It went well with a small smattering of applause at the end. Carol hugged them all while Burt shook all there hands. They were both completely silent. Rachel couldn't blame them.

At the burial they all stood together around the grave. James held Rachel the entire time. Sam was with Santana. Mike and Tina. Puck and Quinn. Artie and Brittany. Kurt and Mercedes. That was all that was left of them.

They all threw dirt on top of the casket after Finn's family. Quinn was crying again and Rachel was doing her best to hold back. The fact that she could hold her in her tears gave her hope. Like it would all become easier with each day. Like life would become easier with each day. She looked around her, her support group there for her. Everyone there for each other. It would get easier for all of them eventually.

James was still holding her as they left. He'd always be holding her, no matter what. And he said he was just a drummer. She rolled her eyes at the thought. As if.


End file.
